by Kylie Baker-Williams, Kenyon College, 2022
There is an epidemic in the United States, along with many other countries, of adolescents, not getting the sleep they need to be healthy. A large reason for this lack of sleep is the early school start times. In this paper, I will lay out the reasons and evidence to have schools start later.
Getting enough sleep is vital in order to lead a healthy, happy life. A lack of sleep can lead to reduced cognitive performance, learning and memory problems, mood alterations, reduced motor skills, and a weakened immune system. According to the CDC adults aged 18-60 need 7 or more hours a night, teenagers aged 13-18 need 8-10 hours a night, and children aged 6-12 need 9-12 hours of sleep a night. Unfortunately, insufficient sleep in adolescents is a trend throughout the United States and many other developed countries. In 2015 the CDC did an analysis of middle schoolers in 9 states and high schoolers across the nation to figure out how many got the recommended 8-10 hours of sleep. They found that more than half of the middle school students, 57.8%, were not getting enough sleep on school nights. This number only increased with high school students, with 72.7% of them getting insufficient sleep on school nights. These numbers show an obvious problem in the United States, that adolescents are living their lives and going to school on an insufficient amount of sleep.
A major reason for the lack of sleep seen in adolescents is school start times forcing them to get up before they are biologically ready. When a person reaches adolescence they experience delayed sleep onset latency, which is the shift in circadian rhythm that happens during adolescents. Adolescents begin to fall asleep later at night and sleep later in the morning because of this shift. This on its own would not be a problem, however, the early start times of schools force adolescents to wake up before they are able to get the full amount of rest they need.
Inadequate sleep, as previously mentioned, can have large, negative effects on cognitive performance and alertness. Thomas, Sing, Belenky, Holcomb, Mayberg, Dannals, Wagner JR., Thorne, Popp, Rowland, Welsh, Balwinski, and Redmond looked at how these effects were reflected in brain activity and function. They did PET scans of 17 normal volunteers and looked for changes in brain activity during 85 hours of sleep deprivation. Each participant was scanned before and at 24 hour intervals, performing a sleep deprivation‐sensitive Serial Addition/Subtraction task during each of the scans. The participants were also asked to report their sleepiness, alertness, and levels of effort and motivation during the Serial Addition/Subtraction performance. The scans revealed that there was a global decrease in brain activity during sleep deprivation, predominantly occurring in the thalamus and prefrontal and posterior parietal cortices. Along with this, cognitive performance on the Serial Addition/Subtraction task decreased in relation to speed and accuracy. Participants also reported that the perceived effort it took to perform the task increased each time.
These findings show how important sleep is to brain functioning. When thinking about these findings in terms of adolescents, one of the most important ones is that lack of sleep leads to decreased activation in the prefrontal cortex. This is important because the prefrontal cortex is very involved in decision making, moderating social behaviors, personality, and much more. During adolescence it is still developing, meaning that adolescents are already not functioning at 100%. With early school start times we are taking away time they need to sleep, which, as the study shows, leads to decreased activation of an area that is already underdeveloped. This can lead to them making riskier, worse decisions, which could potentially endanger them, and acting out. By making school start later, we allow them to get their full amount of rest, giving them the ability to have full access to this important brain structure, which could prevent risky decisions. Another important result of this experiment was that the participants reported a perceived increase in effort required to perform the task, as well as a decrease in performance. I want to make note of the fact that the participants were simply adding and subtracting numbers that appeared on the screen but it took a noticeable effort for them to do. Adolescents have to do much more complicated tasks while at school, and do them for hours on end. When we deprive them of the sleep they need, we make it much harder for them to do their work and do it well, affecting their grades and confidence in themselves.
Curcio, Ferrara, and Gennaro conducted a review in order to examine how sleep loss affects learning capacity and academic performance. Some studies investigated the relationship between sleep patterns and schedules on academic performance and learning, and others examined the effects of induced sleep loss on academic performance and neurobehavioral functioning. The studies revealed that increased daytime sleepiness, which can be a result of inadequate sleep, reduce students’ cognitive functioning and behavioral performance. Studies that experimented with sleep manipulations confirmed these results, associating poor sleep with cognitive and behavioral difficulties. These effects carried into the classroom, resulting in reduced academic achievement and learning. Not only is the early wake times for school affecting adolescents’ brain function, it is hurting their performance in school, which could potentially change the course of their lives.
These effects are not permanent though, and changing school start times to be later can reverse or reduce many of them. Owens, Belon, and Moss conducted a study in 2010 in order to examine the impact of a 30-minute delay in school start time on adolescents' sleep, mood, and behavior. For their study they had a boarding school in Rhode Island, that had grades 9-12, change its start time from 8 A.M to 8:30 A.M. Out of 347 students, 278 of them participated in the study. The researchers had them fill out a survey, before and after, reporting on their typical sleep and wake habits along with sleepiness, Sleep-Wake Behavior Problems, and depressed mood scale. They found that changing the start time led to the average sleep time increasing by 45 minutes. Along with this, the amount of people getting less than 7 hours of sleep decreased by 79.4% and the amount of participants getting at least 8 hours of sleep increased from 16.4% to 54.7%. Participants reported that they were more satisfied with the sleep they got and had more motivation. The effects of this were seen in reduced reports of daytime sleepiness, fatigue, and depressed mood, as well as increased class attendance. There were even fewer visits to the health center after the start time was changed.
The early start times for schools disrupts an adolescent’s sleep, leaving them tired and unrested throughout the day. These studies, and many others, have shown the negative effects inadequate sleep can have on a person. It can result in worsened mood, reduced cognition and behavioral control, and even weaken immune systems, making people sick. However, by pushing back start times, even by just 30 minutes, we can reduce these negative effects and help improve the lives of adolescents. If it were up to me, I would make it so that the earliest a school could start would be 9 o’clock in the morning. The reason for this is that delayed sleep onset makes it normal for adolescents to not be able to fall asleep before 11 o’clock. If school were to start at 9, and students were waking up between 8 and 8:30, even if they didn’t go to bed until midnight, they would be getting the recommended 8 hours of sleep. Of course, 8 hours is the minimum amount of sleep suggested for people aged 13-18 to get, it is still considered an adequate amount. This means they would be fully rested, and most of the negative effects of sleep loss would be gone. This would not only positively affect the lives of the students, it would help the schools as well. These studies have shown that improving the sleep of students results in improved academic performance and increased class attendance, which would reflect positively on the schools. It could also result in improved test scores, which can get some schools more funding from the government. Pushing back school start times, ideally to at least 9, helps everyone involved, it improves the lives of the students and can help a school’s funding and reputation.
Neuro4Kidz. “Build That Prefrontal Lobe Up.” Medium, Medium, 2 June 2018, medium.com/@rohanpoosala/build-that-prefrontal-lobe-up-c72434186dfd.
References:
- “CDC - How Much Sleep Do I Need? - Sleep and Sleep Disorders.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, www.cdc.gov/sleep/about_sleep/how_much_sleep.html.
- “Sleep in Middle and High School Students | Features | CDC.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, www.cdc.gov/features/students-sleep/index.html.
- Thomas, Maria, et al. “Neural Basis of Alertness and Cognitive Performance Impairments during Sleepiness. I. Effects of 24 h of Sleep Deprivation on Waking Human Regional Brain Activity.” Journal of Sleep Research, vol. 9, no. 4, 7 July 2008, pp. 335–352.
- Owens, Judith A., et al. “Impact of Delaying School Start Time on Adolescent Sleep, Mood, and Behavior.” Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, vol. 164, no. 7, 2010,
- Curcio, G, et al. “Sleep Loss, Learning Capacity and Academic Performance.” Sleep Medicine Reviews, vol. 10, no. 5, Oct. 2006, pp. 323–337., doi:10.1016/j.smrv.2005.11.001.
No comments:
Post a Comment