Oliver 1

Sophia Oliver

Mrs. Cramer

Comp. Pd. 1

24 March 2017

Need...MoreSleep
Tossing and turning all night while the hours count down to the sound of your alarm.1

This quote is a great example of how some students feel while going to bed at a late hour, after

trying to complete their assigned homework and are dreading having to wake up to the sound of

their alarm at the crack of dawn only to repeat the process over again. Arguing that school start

times should be delayed has been an ongoing trend for many years, and will continue to be until

the higher up administrations agree to tend to the adolescent needs. Sleep is a biological

necessity, especially for the young developing bodies and minds of school students. As for that

reasoning, school start times should be pushed to later in the morning so students can be more

alert for their classes and improve their health.

To begin, lack of sleep impairs ones ability to pay attention, solve problems, and even retain

information. With being able to sleep in, students would be more awake and alert instead of

having the struggle of trying to keep their eyes open for their morning classes. Each person has

their own biological clock that is controlled by a part in the brain called the Suprachiasmatic

Nucleus (SCN). This part tells us when we are sleepy and when we need to be awake. For teens,

their biological clock tends to experience a sleep phase delay and causes them to naturally feel

more alert later at night making it difficult for them to be asleep at a decent hour to correspond

with early school start times (Sleep research). This sleep phase delay can make it difficult for

1Idiom This is a phrase used to describe when someone has not slept well.
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teens to get the needed minimum of 8 hours each night. When having to wake up at an early hour

and not getting their full amount of needed sleep it takes longer for their bodies to feel naturally

awake. With this being said, many high school students drive themselves to school in the

morning. Why would it be safe to drive if they cant even stay awake and alert for class?2 A study

was done to show that student drivers who woke up earlier were more prone to crashes and

accidents than those who slept and got their full needed hours of sleep. The study found that the

students who increased the amount of sleep they got led to the crash rates declining by 16.5%

during a period when teens crash rates throughout the state increased by 7.8%. When sleepy

students get behind the wheel they contribute to what the National Highway Traffic Safety

Administration calls the extreme danger of drowsy driving which has an estimated annual cost

of $109 billion (Blanford). Not only is this dangerous but also expensive. Delaying school start

times would be a major key in lowering the numbers even more.

A strong viewpoint on why some schools still have not delayed their start time is the conflicts it

could cause with bussing and parents work schedules. For some families the time swap isnt a

problem; a responsible person would already be home for when the younger kids arrive. As for

some working families that lack job flexibility, a solution to this time correspondence issue

would be a child care program in the morning before school and after school. Many schools

already have a distinguished Latch Key program that is run by volunteers so no extra cost or

charge is required. This provides a safe, trustworthy way for parents not having to change their

schedules. As for busing, school districts have a strict system to follow designed to run as

efficiently and inexpensively as possible, so change in this you would think might result in

severe issues. There are solutions and options for this to continue to work smoothly. Flipping

2 Rhetorical Question This question is asked to make a point, not to receive an answer.
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times with the elementary and high school are the most common fix. This requires no extra buses

or drivers and only changes the order of pickups. This better corresponds with younger childrens

sleep schedules as well since they tend to wake up earlier in the morning (Holohan). All times

would still have to be reasonable for this to work, but it is more than manageable.

To continue, with school starting times being later, getting out later is the ongoing

problem causer. With the later ending times though, students who participate in after school

activities such as sports or clubs, now dont have to worry about getting home and rushing to bed

to get a decent amount of sleep for the next day. Conflicts with times of dismissal and games

with other schools though would only make issue of students having to miss class to leave and

play. This could be easily dealt with by the later starting times so the next morning students have

time to gather what they missed and/or do work that they need caught up on. Parents, students,

coaches, athletic directors, etc. would be involved in meeting to arrange schedules that would

work for everyone, including surrounding districts so minimal issues would be prominent. These

gatherings would bring communities together and let everyone hear each other out on the

different views so no one would feel as if they didnt have an input. This would have positive

outcomes on attitudes of all ages.

Lastly, what may be the most important reason as to why school start times should be

later is the impact sleep has on ones health. Sleep is just as important as eating well and

exercising to maintain a healthy body, and mind. It is known that minimal sleep can cause eating

disorders and weight gain, but do you know what mental health issues it influences more?

Behavioral problems, irritability, poor impulse control and violence, impaired cognitive function,

inability to cope with stress, and depression all result from lack of sleep. Along with mental

health, it affects emotions. Common responses to this are usually grumpy, foggy and short-
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tempered. Teens require on average, 9 hours of sleep, but need at least 8 hours minimum for

optimal performance of brain and body development. The increased need for sleep and greater

brain plasticity during childhood suggests this to be a critical window of opportunity for early

intervention. The combined societal costs of anxiety and depressive disorders are estimated to be

more than $120 billion annually, without including the need for early identification of risk

factors and effective intervention methods. (Lack of sleep) To return to the fact that lack of

sleep causes weight gain and eating disorders. When youre feeling sleepy but have to time to

sneak in a nap, what do you do?3 Reaching for a cup of coffee or grabbing a sugary food for a

quick shot of energy is usually someone's first impulse. Later you may skip the gym and pick up

takeout on your way home to your family, then when it comes time for bed you are too wound up to

sleep. The next day you repeat the same process. When running low on energy you tend to reach for

some comfort foods, most of which are not in a healthy diet. The immediate result? You may be

able to fight off sleepiness. The ending result? Unwanted pounds added due to poor food choices

doubled with lack of exercise. This is what sets the stage for obesity and further sleep loss. So

basically if you're tired and don't get enough sleep, it all goes down hill from there.

In conclusion, school start times should be pushed to later in the morning so students can be more

alert for their classes and improve their health. This argument will continue to be prominent until

we can take it into further consideration. Sleep is important and so is education, you would think

we would want to put those before anything else. "While implication may be complex,

particularly when a change would bring a schools schedule out of sync with neighboring

systems, delaying school start times so that adolescents begin their instructional day later

provides numerous benefits to the students and their broader community alike." (Later School)

3 Enthymeme- This example keeps the premise implied but makes you think about
what is going to come next
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Works Cited

Blanford, Stephan. "Later starts disrupt families." USA Today, 26 Aug. 2016, p. 07A. Opposing
Viewpoints in Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A461728584/OVIC?
u=pl1949&xid=3f35f04a. Accessed 16 Mar. 2017.

Holohan, Ellin. "Earlier School Start Times Endanger Teen Drivers." Teen Driving, edited by
Michele Siuda Jacques, Greenhaven Press, 2013. At Issue. Opposing Viewpoints in Context,
link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ3010521222/OVIC?u=pl1949&xid=a15ac87d. Accessed 16
Mar. 2017. Originally published as "Early School Start Times May Raise Risk of Teen Car
Crashes,", 12 June 2010.

"Lack of sleep increases a child's risk for emotional disorders later." Mental Health Weekly
Digest, 8 Aug. 2016, p. 127. Opposing Viewpoints in Context,
link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A460137043/OVIC?u=pl1949&xid=db139c0c. Accessed 17
Mar. 2017.

"Later School Start Times Promote Adolescent Well-being" American Psychological Association.
Accessed 3-7-2017

Mann, Denise. "Sleep and Weight Gain." WebMD. WebMD, n.d. Web. 17 Mar.
2017.

"Sleep Research & Education." National Sleep Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Mar.
2017.