Most importantly, changing the school start time to a later hour has been proven to benefit students school performance. Raappana asserts how Numerous studies have shown that children with impaired or irregular sleep perform more poorly on tests and have lower grades than those who get ample zs. This evidence demonstrates just one of the many benefits that proper sleep can provide. Getting enough sleep is crucial to have enough energy and motivation to do schoolwork, socialize, or to participate in sports. Without the right amount of motivation, work may not be done properly which can negatively affect ones grades and lower their GPA. Raappana also argues that During puberty, teenagers brains release melatonin- the sleep hormone later in the day, which means they are unlikely to feel drowsy until P.M. or later. Due to this, many teenagers find difficulty in falling asleep early, causing them to go to bed late. With such an early start time, it is nearly impossible to get the recommended eight hours of sleep. This causes certain students to be drowsier and less attentive than they would be if they had slept more, which harms how they carry out their school tasks. Pushing the school start time back by an hour or two would lead to higher scores and benefit nearly every student.
Furthermore, not only will test scores rise if school st
art times are delayed, but mental health has been shown to improve too. Moon provides this statistic After school start time was delayed, the percentage of students who rated themselves as at least somewhat unhappy or depressed decreased significantly from 66% to 45% as did the percentage who reported feeling irritated or annoyed much of the time (from 84% to 63%). This is compelling evidence because there is a huge number of students who became more mentally stable when getting the right amount of sleep. Being stable is necessary in order to live a healthier lifestyle. If every school made the decision to delay start times, there would be a substantial drop in the number of students reporting depressive symptoms. Rosenberg acknowledges that With sleep needs of about nine hours per night, and a sleep clock in the brain naturally geared toward staying up later, early school start times are a major contributing factor to chronic sleep deprivation in adolescents. This is important because chronic sleep deprivation can put a person at greater risk for depression and can change ones mood drastically. Students are not getting enough sleep and it is causing anger and irritability and lessening their ability to cope with stress. Due to this, schools must delay start times in order to improve the mental health of the many students lacking sleep.