The average teen wakes up around 6:00am to 6:30am. The average teen also does not fall asleep till around eleven o'clock to midnight or even later. Most people need about 8 full hours of sleep, but most teens are struggling to get it, with only about one third of teens getting the bare minimum amount of sleep. The fact that most teens …show more content…
Some pushback is coming from coaches that don't want to adjust their practice schedule and community groups who don't want to wait longer for facilities to open to them. It is also very hard to make it work. So much so that only 70 school districts in the country have succeeded so far but one of those 70 was the 11th largest district in the country so there is really not much of an excuse.
There are many benefits to later start times and many problems caused by earlier ones. Studies show that starting school even an hour later could improve grades by three percentile points, and one of the most accepted studies on school start times proves it. Undersleeping can also lead to physical or mental distress. It can also make it harder for teens to take in new information, solve problems, and believe it or not, put them at a higher risk for depression.
There is only one thing to do about the many major issues that are being caused by the earlier start times, push them back by at least an hour . Pushing back the times by even this little will improve grades by up to three percentile points on average, and improve students ability to absorb information better. These later start times will also help participation and overall work ethic. So if you barely read this without hitting your head against your desk than I suggest you go home, get a few extra hours of sleep, and try it again