Should school start at a later time and a talk about sleeping

Tausinga Makaafi, Staff Writer

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the American Academy of Pediatrics have both said that middle schools and high schools should begin no earlier than 8:30 a.m. Both academies want to ensure students get adequate sleep so that they are alert and prepared to learn at school. Another thing I found interesting is that the reason why teenagers stay up so late is because of something called hormonal time shift – Puberty hormones shift the teen’s body clock forward by one or two hours, making the individual sleepier one to two hours later. Yet, while teens sleep late, early school starts and they don’t allow them to sleep in. This leads to chronic sleep deprivation, the case of getting insufficient sleep or experiencing sleeplessness over an extended period of time. Chronic insomnia is a long-term pattern of difficulty sleeping. Insomnia is considered chronic if a person has fallen asleep or stayed asleep at least three nights per week for three weeks or longer.

Some people with insomnia have a long history of having a difficult time sleeping. So after all the evidence I actually agree with starting school a little late so we could get a few more minutes of sleep. This should be happening but the school expects us to wake up at 7:00. Some students have a difficult time waking up early, which will make them late, and will have their citizenship grades go down. Which will affect their grade and make the person fail their class. In conclusion, middle and high school kids should be able to start school later on in the morning rather than early in the morning.