By Luca DalCanto
Imagine this: Early in the morning you have to wake up to an alarm clock or someone yelling at you. Then, you get dressed, eat your breakfast (or skip it), and go to first period class and take a nap.
Oh, wait, that’s every day of our lives.
School should start later in the morning, around 8:30. It's more healthy for the body, and it's what our school wants. Experts and doctors agree with this idea. And waking up early isn't actually as great as you might think.
On average, pre-teens and teenagers sleep between 7 and 7.25 hours a night. Try to guess how much is needed by our bodies: It’s actually between 9 and 9.5 hours of sleep a night!
That means that if you’re waking up between 6 and 6:30 a.m. with our early start time, you should be falling asleep at at 9 p.m. Now I bet that’s news! In fact, only 9 percent of teen boys and 8 percent of teen girls get enough sleep. The rest are sleep deprived, according to Craig Canapari, a pediatrician from Connecticut who is an expert on sleeping problems.
This shortage of sleep can cause an increase in depression and suicidal thoughts, cause anxiety and low self-esteem, and could affect academic performance at school, according to The National Sleep Foundation and Better Health Channel. You may also increase the risk of diabetes and heart problems, according to those sites. Another side effect includes an increase in waist circumference and blood pressure. In conclusion, we do not get nearly enough sleep as middle schoolers and teenagers.
So, what do Churchill students think? I asked the simple yes or no question: “Do you think school should start later?” to 16 random people, both staff and students. Most told me it should start later.
We also have experts and doctors who agree with us. In 2015, the "Stanford Medicine News" reported: “Among teens, sleep deprivation is an epidemic.”
Also, the Sleep Doctor, Michael J. Breus, who has a PhD, says, “With so many teens not even reaching 7 hours of nightly rest, it’s clear there’s widespread sleep deprivation among our teenagers today. And as some of the latest research demonstrates, that can have serious health consequences for teens.”
In conclusion, it is clear that even doctors and experts agree, schools shouldn’t start earlier than 8:30 a.m.
Finally, the so-called advantages of waking up early aren’t actually very helpful. True, if you start school earlier, you can end school earlier, resulting in more free time and club time after school. But what do people spend that time doing? Studies show 91% of kids (ages 2 - 17) play video games, according to the news website Digital Trends.
There is no problem with this, but if you want to wake up later, and therefore make school end later in the afternoon, I think it would be fine for you to play less in the afternoon.
People who think school should start early also argue that if you just go to sleep earlier you can still get in 9 hours of sleep, but this is actually not the case.
It has been scientifically proven that the teenage body both goes to sleep and wakes up later. This is because the hormone melatonin, which makes you sleepy, kicks in later in the evenings, around 11 p.m. among teenagers.
Melatonin levels stay elevated for longer in mornings, meaning that we are awakened for school before we can get enough sleep.
In the final analysis, school should start later in the morning. First, because the body needs it. You can’t deny the facts. Next, because this school voted for it. Experts say we should. Finally, because starting earlier is not very helpful.