“Beep! Beep! Beep!” Rise ‘n shine! It’s 6 a.m. How much sleep did you get last night? Well, if you are a high school student, or maybe even a college student, it’s probably less than a whopping six and a half hours! According to the American Psychological Association’s Web site, 26 percent of high school students routinely sleep less than six and a half hours on school nights – that’s only half of the recommended hours for an adolescent.
I think it’s time we push back school start times. We high school students have six classes that we have homework in each night, not to mention the tests we study for on top of that. Then, it’s time for bed at anywhere between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m.; then it starts all over again.
We need to sleep. According to a research shown in Brown University Medical School, there is a severe relationship between the amount of sleep you get and how well you do in school. The University of Minnesota did research on 7,000 high school students who switched their start times from 7:15 a.m. to 8:40 a.m.; they reported getting slightly better grades and experiencing fewer depressive feelings and behaviors.
Lack of sleep affects us in more ways than we actually realize. Drowsiness and fatigue cause many traffic accidents each year and young drivers are at the wheel in more than half of these accidents.
Convinced yet? I hope you’re as worried about your teen-agers as Rep. Zoe Lofgren, Calif., is. The “Zzzzz’s to A’s” bill would provide federal grants to help school districts defray the cost of pushing back school start times. If we support this, grades may go up, teen traffic accidents may be reduced, and teens could be much healthier, both mentally and physically. Isn’t it worth a try? After all, these students are the future of our great nation.
Monroe High School
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