Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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
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
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
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.