should school start later essay conclusion

Exploring the Evidence: 7 Comprehensive Reasons Why School Should Start Later for Enhanced Student Well-being and Academic Success

Reasons why School should Start Later in the Morning: – Better for students sleep and attendance – Don’t need to stay up as late to do homework because you can do it in the morning — Pisha 🍉 ⪩⚢⪨ Et Le Ena Piou (@mafuanenautism)  September 30, 2022

On this page, you will discover:

7 Reasons Why School Should Start Later

1. improves academic performance.

Why It Is Important

2. Allows Teens to Get More Sleep

Adopting later school start times harmonizes with teenagers’ biological clocks, addressing the mismatch between early school schedules and adolescents’ sleep needs. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine’s recommendations highlight the importance of adequate sleep for teenagers, a demographic often burdened by early start times and societal pressures that encroach on their sleep duration. This shift not only ensures they meet the optimal sleep quota but also enhances their overall health and cognitive function.

3. Reduces Absenteeism

This not only benefits students’ academic performance and continuity of learning but also contributes to a more vibrant, participatory school environment. Improved health outcomes due to adequate sleep thus serve as a preventive measure against common ailments, ensuring that students remain present and engaged in their educational journey.

4. Lowers Risk of Depression and Mental Health Issues

The crucial relationship between sleep and mental health, particularly in adolescents, cannot be overstated. Addressing sleep deprivation through later school start times is a preventative measure that could significantly improve students’ mental health outcomes.

The interplay between sleep and mental health is critical, especially during the volatile adolescent years. Inadequate sleep has been consistently linked to increased risks of depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues. By shifting school start times later, students are afforded the opportunity to align their sleep schedules with their biological needs, significantly mitigating these risks.

5. Reduces Drowsy Driving in Teens

With the initiation of driving coinciding with the teenage years, the risk of drowsy driving becomes a pressing concern. Adjusting school start times to ensure teenagers get enough sleep could be a critical step in enhancing road safety and reducing accidents.

Teenage years coincide with the commencement of driving for many, introducing risks associated with drowsy driving. The CDC has identified sleep deprivation as a key factor in teen driving accidents. By enabling teens to align their sleep schedules with natural rhythms through later school start times, the incidence of drowsy driving can be significantly reduced.

This has the dual benefit of enhancing individual safety and contributing to broader public safety outcomes. Preventing accidents through such measures not only saves lives but also fosters a culture of responsible driving habits among young individuals.

Explore the findings of a new study on teen drivers and the risks of drowsy driving in this informative video recommended for viewing.

6. Helps Teens Feel Happier

By adopting later start times, schools can help rectify this misalignment, allowing students to adhere to a more natural sleep schedule. This adjustment can lead to improved mood, greater resilience, and a more positive outlook on life, which are crucial for healthy adolescent development and academic success.

Discover how a high school in Dedham, Massachusetts is combating student feelings of hopelessness with an innovative course on finding happiness through savoring experiences and fostering relationships in this inspiring video.

7. Reduced Stress

The stress induced by early mornings and lack of sleep can significantly affect students’ academic and social lives. By moving the start of the school day later, schools can alleviate a major source of daily stress, contributing to a healthier, more conducive learning environment.

By mitigating one of the many stressors in students’ lives, schools can create a more supportive and productive learning environment. The benefits of such a change extend beyond the individual, positively affecting the school culture and community at large.

The Potential Drawbacks of Starting School Later

1. scheduling sports and extracurriculars becomes more difficult.

One potential drawback of starting school later is the complication it introduces to scheduling sports and extracurricular activities. Many students are actively involved in after-school programs, including sports teams, clubs, and other organizations that play a significant role in their development. This presents a clear argument for why school should not start later, as it could lead to conflicts with extracurricular activities that depend on fixed schedules. This can result in logistical challenges for both students and program coordinators, potentially causing students to miss out on opportunities that contribute to their growth beyond academics.

In response to this challenge, schools and communities can adapt by rethinking and possibly reinventing the scheduling and structure of extracurricular activities. Flexibility in planning, such as holding some activities in the morning or making more efficient use of weekends, can ensure students continue to benefit from these programs. Moreover, a later start time might actually enhance student participation and performance in extracurriculars, as students would be better rested and more focused, potentially leading to a richer extracurricular experience.

2. Increases Childcare Costs and Logistical Challenges for Working Parents

The shift to later school start times can increase childcare costs and create logistical challenges for working parents. Parents may find themselves needing to arrange for additional morning care or adjust their work schedules to accommodate the change. This can add financial strain and complicate the balance between work and family life, creating stress and potentially impacting the overall well-being of families.

3. May Make After-School Jobs and Activities More Difficult

On the flip side, a later start time can lead to more alert and productive students, potentially making them more efficient in balancing work, activities, and school responsibilities. Schools and local businesses could collaborate to offer flexible working arrangements for students, recognizing the mutual benefits of supporting adolescent development while maintaining their contribution to the workforce and community engagement.

4. Reduces Time for Homework and Family Activities

A later dismissal time from school may compress the window available for homework, relaxation, and family time, essential components of a student’s well-being and academic success. This reduction in available time during the evening can increase stress and limit opportunities for meaningful family interaction and adequate academic preparation.

This challenge necessitates a more efficient approach to homework and after-school time management, potentially encouraging schools to reassess the volume and nature of homework assigned. With strategic planning and support, students can learn to manage their time effectively, ensuring they have sufficient opportunities for both academic responsibilities and family engagement. Additionally, the quality of family time can improve when students are less stressed and more rested, making the time spent together more meaningful.

The Impact of Delayed School Start Times in Seattle School District

The findings, published in Science Advances, revealed significant benefits stemming from the later start times. On average, students gained an additional 34 minutes of sleep per night, increasing their total nightly sleep from six hours and 50 minutes to seven hours and 24 minutes. This increase brought students closer to achieving the recommended sleep amount and marked a reversal in the century-long trend of gradual sleep loss among adolescents.

Despite the success observed in Seattle, such shifts in school start times remain relatively rare across the United States, where the typical start time still hovers around 8 a.m. However, the Seattle School District’s experience stands as a compelling testament to the benefits of later start times, supported by the American Academy of Pediatrics’ advocacy for this change as an effective countermeasure to the widespread issue of sleep deprivation among teenagers.

The Seattle School District’s initiative demonstrates a proactive approach to student health and education, providing valuable insights and evidence for other districts contemplating similar adjustments. By prioritizing the sleep needs of students, the district not only improved their academic and health outcomes but also set a precedent for the importance of aligning educational policies with scientific research on adolescent well-being.

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Schools shift as evidence mounts that later start times improve teens’ learning and well-being

Later school starts correlate with improved mood, better attendance and grades, and fewer car crashes among youth

• Schools and Classrooms

At a glance

• Research from psychologists and others indicates that later school times correlate with more sleep, better academic performance, and myriad mental and physical health benefits.
• Adolescents between the ages of 13 and 18 should sleep 8 to 10 hours per day, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. But few are logging those hours.
• During puberty, youth undergo a shift in their circadian clocks that makes it harder for them to fall asleep until later in the night. Meanwhile, they can stay awake longer before experiencing an increase in the pressure to sleep.
• Pushing back school start times has added sleep benefits for teachers and parents, too.
• States and school districts are mandating later school start times in response to the scientific research.

Sleep is a key ingredient in physical and mental health, and most adolescents aren’t getting enough—but a straightforward solution is within reach. For decades, psychologists and other researchers have amassed evidence that later school start times can improve adolescents’ health and well-being. Emerging evidence suggests that pushing back the first bell can benefit teachers’ and parents’ sleep, too. Finally, that evidence is translating to broad shifts in policy.

In the past 25 years, more than 500 individual school districts in the United States have moved school start times later in response to the research, said Kyla Wahlstrom, PhD, an educational policy researcher at the University of Minnesota, who has been studying start times since the 1990s. But progress was piecemeal until 2014, when the American Academy of Pediatrics helped draw attention to the cause by publishing a position statement stating that middle schools and high schools should begin no earlier than 8:30 a.m. In 2019, California passed a law, enacted in 2022, mandating secondary schools start after 8:30 a.m. Florida passed a similar bill in 2023, and several other states are now considering such legislation.

Yet opposition to changing established start times can be surprisingly fierce. “There are always roadblocks. Change is hard,” said Lisa Meltzer, PhD, a pediatric sleep psychologist with Nyxeos Consulting and a professor at National Jewish Health in Denver. But the evidence is clear, she adds. “This is a systemic change that can really make a big difference for so many.”

Well-rested teens

Adolescents between the ages of 13 and 18 should sleep 8 to 10 hours per day, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Few are logging those hours. Between 2009 and 2021, the percentage of high school students who did not get enough sleep increased from 69% to 77%, according to data from the CDC National Youth Risk Behavior Surveys . In 2021, nearly 70% of 9 th graders, and 83.5% of 12 th graders, failed to get enough sleep.

Many factors are at play in youth getting too little sleep, including heavy homework loads, overscheduled extracurriculars, and the irresistible lure of social media, which has been shown to impact adolescent sleep ( van den Eijnden, R. J. J. M., et al., International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health , Vol. 18, No. 3, 2021 ). Yet the biggest factors are biological. During puberty, youth undergo a shift in their circadian clocks. That shift makes it hard for teens to fall asleep until later in the night. Another factor at play is the sleep homeostatic system, which controls the rhythm of sleepiness and wakefulness. The longer you stay awake, the greater the pressure to sleep becomes. There’s evidence that during adolescence, that pressure takes longer to build. Those biological influences famously drive teens to sleep later in the morning. But even sleeping until noon on weekends isn’t enough to make up for the sleep deficit they accumulate night after night during the school week.

Neurological and psychological diagnoses only compound the problem. Sleep problems, including difficulties falling or staying asleep, are common in kids with autism and ADHD. Anxiety and depression can also skew sleep patterns. As rates of these conditions have increased, so has the number of kids coming to school bleary-eyed each morning. Pushing back start times has a direct impact on how much kids sleep. It’s no surprise that teens wake up later when their school day starts later. Notably, though, they tend to go to bed around the same time—resulting in more time under the covers, as Meltzer, Wahlstrom, and colleagues showed in a longitudinal study ( Sleep , Vol. 44, No. 7, 2021 ).

The downstream benefits are significant. One meta-analysis found that compared with students whose schools started between 8 a.m. and 8:29 a.m., those in schools starting between 8:30 a.m. and 8:59 a.m. had longer sleep duration, less negative mood, and better developmental outcomes including socioemotional health, cognitive development, behavioral health, and physical health ( Pediatrics , Vol. 149, No. 6, 2022 ). Another review found later start times were correlated with better attendance, less tardiness, less falling asleep in class, better grades, and fewer car crashes ( Wheaton, A. G., et al., Journal of School Health , Vol. 86, No. 5, 2016 ).

“Adolescent health is significantly improved by having later start times,” Wahlstrom said, with reductions in substance use, suicidality, and depression. “This isn’t a silver bullet to improve test scores. It’s a public health policy.”

Sleep for teachers and parents

Students aren’t the only ones to benefit from sleeping in. Meltzer and Wahlstrom found that after new school start times were implemented in a large suburban district near Denver, more parents of middle and high school students reported sufficient sleep duration, and fewer reported feeling tired ( Sleep Health , Vol. 8, No. 1, 2022 ). For their part, middle and high school teachers reported later wake times, increased sleep duration, and improved daytime functioning ( Journal of School Health , Vol. 93, No. 2, 2022 ). “The high school teachers said this profoundly changed their lives, allowing them to be a more effective teacher,” Wahlstrom said.

It’s an important finding, given that many educators report feeling overstressed and under-rested, said Michelle Perfect, PhD, a professor of school psychology at the University of Arizona and past president of APA Division 16 (School Psychology). Her research has found that inadequate sleep duration and poor sleep quality are common among teachers. In a study not yet published, she tested teachers’ performance on a decision-making task in the lab. On the first task, teachers with poor sleep performed similarly to those who were better rested. But with each subsequent trial, their skills slipped. “By the fifth trial, they were only a few points away [on average] from a score consistent with early-stage dementia,” she said. “Teachers are making decisions constantly as they manage their classrooms. You can imagine the teacher in a classroom for 8 hours getting more and more fatigued by doing simple tasks.”

Start time challenges

Despite the evidence that later start times have broad benefits, making the change can be complicated. To accommodate later starts for teenagers, most districts need to shift elementary start times earlier to balance busing schedules—a move that often gets pushback from families. In general, though, it’s easier for young kids to get used to going to bed and waking up earlier, since they don’t have the biological pressures of puberty fueling their sleep drive. Moreover, while teens benefit from later start times, elementary students don’t seem to suffer negative effects from earlier schedules, Meltzer said. “Their bedtimes are more adjustable.”

Families also have concerns about how new start times might impact after-school schedules. Districts may need to get creative, adjusting sports timetables when playing districts on different schedules and rearranging the child-care offerings available before and after school. But districts that have made the switch have risen to those challenges, Meltzer said, and her research shows that later start times haven’t been found to significantly interfere with teens participating in extracurricular activities or holding after-school jobs ( Frontiers in Sleep , Vol. 1, No. 1044457, 2022 ).

School start times alone won’t solve the problem of too many young people getting too little sleep. “We need to pay attention to both ends of the sleep cycle—what’s happening in the morning, but after school as well,” said Mary Carskadon, PhD, a professor of psychiatry and human behavior who studies circadian rhythms at Brown University. That can mean limiting sports and other activities in the evening, avoiding phone use at night, and making sure kids aren’t sacrificing sleep for homework.

Until society does a better job prioritizing sleep, Carskadon said, kids will continue to be under-rested. But in the meantime, changing school start times will be the single biggest way to help the greatest number of adolescents get the rest they need to thrive, Meltzer added. And research findings will continue to help school boards and governments get on board with the change. With more than 27,000 public and private secondary schools in the United States, those efforts will take time. But the impact of later school start times is evident, and youth deserve the chance for better health, Meltzer said. “There are problems that have to be solved, but they’re solvable. It can be done.”

Further reading

• Start School Later
• Pediatric sleep: Current knowledge, gaps, and opportunities for the future Reynolds, A. M., et al., Sleep 2023
• FastStats: Sleep in High School Students U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2024

Recommended Reading

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School Start Times, Sleep, Behavioral, Health, and Academic Outcomes: a Review of the Literature

Anne g. wheaton.

Epidemiologist, Division of Population Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Hwy. NE, Mailstop F-78, Atlanta, GA 30341-3717, Phone: (770) 488-5362, Fax: (770) 488-5965, vog.cdc@9opi

Daniel P. Chapman

Epidemiologist, Division of Population Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Hwy. NE, Mailstop F-78, Atlanta, GA 30341-3717, Phone: (770) 488-5463, vog.cdc@2cpd

Janet B. Croft

Branch Chief, Epidemiology and Surveillance Branch, Division of Population Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Hwy. NE, Mailstop F-78, Atlanta, GA 30341-3717, Phone: (770) 488-2566, vog.cdc@0cbj

Insufficient sleep in adolescents has been shown to be associated with a wide variety of adverse outcomes, from poor mental and physical health to behavioral problems and lower academic grades. However, most high school students do not get sufficient sleep. Delaying school start times for adolescents has been proposed as a policy change to address insufficient sleep in this population and potentially to improve students’ academic performance, reduce engagement in risk behaviors, and improve health.

This paper reviews 38 reports examining the association between school start times, sleep, and other outcomes among adolescent students.

Most studies reviewed provide evidence that delaying school start time increases weeknight sleep duration among adolescents, primarily by delaying rise times. Most of the studies saw a significant increase in sleep duration even with relatively small delays in start times of half an hour or so. Later start times also generally correspond to improved attendance, less tardiness, less falling asleep in class, better grades, and fewer motor vehicle crashes.

CONCLUSIONS

Although additional research is necessary, research results that are already available should be disseminated to stakeholders to enable the development of evidence-based school policies.

Sleepy adolescents have doubtlessly been a problem for a long time. However, it is only since the late 1980s that this issue has progressed from teachers’ anecdotes of students falling asleep in class and parental complaints of daily struggles to get their children out of bed to scientific investigations into the causes and consequences of insufficient sleep.

Most adolescents may need at least 9 hours sleep per night 1 – 3 ; however, fewer than 8% of high school students report getting this amount. 4 Less than a third of students report 8 or more hours of sleep, and this proportion decreases as school grade level increases so that fewer than a quarter of high school seniors get this amount. 4 Healthy People 2020, a national initiative designed to guide disease prevention and health promotion efforts to improve the health of all Americans ( http://www.healthypeople.gov/ ), contains 4 objectives related to sleep, including one for adolescents. 5 This objective is to “increase the proportion of students in grades 9 through 12 who get sufficient sleep (defined as 8 or more hours of sleep on an average school night).”

Insufficient sleep in children and adolescents has been shown to be associated with a wide variety of adverse outcomes in multiple aspects of their lives from poor mental and physical health to behavioral problems and poor academic grades. Insufficient sleep has been linked to excess weight, 6 – 13 decreased physical activity, 14 and increased food intake, possibly due to alterations in appetite-regulating hormones. 12 Results of investigations into longitudinal changes in weight attributable to sleep duration, however, have been mixed. 10 , 15

A solid body of literature has found that insufficient sleep in this young population is tied to poor mental health, including depression, depressive symptoms, 8 , 16 – 22 and suicidal ideation. 8 , 18 , 20 , 22 – 25 In addition, a few studies have shown an association between insufficient sleep and unhealthy risk behaviors including alcohol use, 17 , 19 , 20 , 22 tobacco smoking, 20 , 22 marijuana use, 20 , 22 use of other illicit/prescription drugs, 22 unhealthy weight control strategies, 26 and recent sexual activity. 20 Other factors that have been found to be associated with insufficient sleep include risk-taking behaviors, 27 bullying, 28 school violence-related behaviors, 29 and physical fighting. 20 Short sleep duration has also been found to be associated with a higher risk of unintentional injury. 30 Finally, students who do not get enough sleep also may be more likely to have problems paying attention and poor academic performance, 17 , 21 , 31 – 36 although not all research agrees. 37 , 38 One of these negative studies failed to find a correlation between school night sleep duration and grade point average. 37 However, class grading and subsequently grade point averages are not standardized and may vary by subject, teacher, and school. That study also did not adjust by sex of student, which was a strong predictor of grade point average. Ming et al. found that “students with a sleep length of less than 7 hours on both weekdays and weekends exhibited poorer performance, while those who made up this sleep loss on weekends did not.” 38 That study also relied on a non-standardized measure of academic performance and did not adjust for variables such as grade in school, which is strongly related to prevalence of insufficient sleep.

Adolescents tend to get insufficient sleep because of a combination of late bedtimes and early rise times. External factors that contribute to later bedtimes among adolescents include an increase in schoolwork; participation in afterschool activities, including employment; fewer parent-set bedtimes; and late-night use of technology in the bedroom. 39 – 43 Biology also plays a part in later bedtimes among adolescents. One of the early changes associated with puberty is alteration of a child’s circadian rhythms, such that adolescents are more alert in the afternoons and evenings and require morning sleep. 44 Their natural body clocks can keep adolescents awake until 11 PM or later, in spite of going to bed earlier and good sleep hygiene, such as avoiding stimulating activity at night and minimizing caffeine intake in the afternoon or evening. 39 School-based sleep promotion programs have been tried as a means of improving sleep hygiene among adolescents. However, these programs may improve knowledge of sleep without having a significant effect on behavior. 45 , 46

Rise times, on the other hand, are primarily determined by a single factor—school start times. 43 Delaying school start times for adolescents has been proposed as a policy change to address insufficient sleep in this population and potentially to improve students’ academic performance, reduce engagement in risk behaviors, and improve health. In 2014, the American Academy of Pediatrics published a policy statement urging middle and high schools to adjust start times to permit students to obtain adequate sleep and improve physical and mental health, safety, academic performance, and quality of life. 3 This paper reviews studies examining the association between school start times, sleep, and other outcomes including academic performance, mental health, and motor vehicle collisions among adolescent students. This paper, and especially the table provided, is intended to be a resource for educators, parents, and other stakeholders who wish to learn more about the impact of changing school start times for adolescents.

LITERATURE REVIEW

An outline of the steps in identification of articles and reports included in the literature review is presented in the Figure . To be included in the review, analyses had to include the variable of “school start time” either by comparing different schools with different start times (cross-sectional) or the same schools before and after changes in start times (longitudinal). Since the focus of this review is on the effect of school start times on adolescent students, studies that focused on elementary school (pre-middle school) students were excluded. Additionally, reports had to be available in English, but could include schools either in or outside the United States. Articles for the literature review were initially identified through a PubMed search for “school start time” OR “school start times” (Step A). Some exclusions from this initial search included a study that compared students in public or private schools to homeschooled students, 47 a comparison of adolescent sleep during summer and during the school year, 48 and one that modeled the effect of modifying school start times on the frequency of encounters between child pedestrians and motor vehicles. 49 Another broader PubMed search for “sleep” AND “adolescent” AND “school” resulted in approximately 3200 articles (Step B). Titles and abstracts were reviewed to identify studies that might meet primary inclusion criteria. Full-text review of candidate articles confirmed inclusion of articles for this review. Reference lists of articles identified in Steps A and B and reviews of the topic of school start times were reviewed for identification of additional reports (Step C). Several of the earliest studies with results presented in abstract form only were identified in this manner, 50 – 54 as were some studies from the education or economics literature that were not indexed by PubMed. 55 – 59 A Scopus search for “school start time” (all fields) found 320 documents (Step D), of which 3 satisfied the inclusion criteria and had not been identified in previous steps. Finally (Step E), one additional non-duplicative report was identified in the reference list for articles in Step D. Final searches in Steps A, B, and D were conducted July 1, 2015. For this review, 38 reports were reviewed for years of study, study design, sample size, students’ ages, location, school start times, outcomes, and key reported findings. Five of these reports are listed more than once in the table. Three reports included multiple study populations whose data are analyzed separately. 59 – 61 Three reports included cross-sectional and longitudinal components, with data for each component presented separately. 55 , 57 , 61

Identification of Reports for Review

The primary limitation to this review is its reliance on indexing by PubMed and Scopus, which could lead to omission of reports not indexed by these databases. To address this limitation, we also examined the reference lists on previous articles on the topic of school start times (Steps C and E). Five of the 38 reports were identified in this manner. Publication bias and over-representation of studies with significant results is also possible, however, some studies included in this review had results that did not agree with the majority.

Types of School Start Time Studies

We reviewed 38 reports on the impact of changes in school start time (see Table ). Unfortunately, the earliest reports, 50 – 54 which have been cited frequently, were only published in abstract form. However, since they seem to have provided the impetus for much of the subsequent research and are fairly detailed, we have included them in this review. The studies presented in this review can be categorized as either cross-sectional or longitudinal. The cross-sectional studies simply compared characteristics for students at two or more schools having different start times, such that School A had an earlier start time than School B and compared how students at the two schools with respect to such outcomes as sleep duration, school attendance, academic performance, and morning traffic accidents among teens.

Descriptions of School Start Time (SST) Studies in Preadolescents, Adolescents, and College-Age Students

Abbreviations: ACT, originally American College Testing – one of two standardized tests commonly used in college admissions in the United States; HS, high school; MS, middle school; NR, not reported; SD, standard deviation; SST, school start time.

Changing school start times is often a major endeavor that involves coordination between school faculty and staff, transportation resources, parents, students, and administration, and can take years to accomplish. Cross-sectional studies can be conducted without having to wait for a school or school district to undertake a change in school start time. However, as with all cross- sectional studies, only associations between school start times and other variables can be shown—not cause and effect. Other school characteristics, such as socioeconomic status of students, can also have effects on sleep and other outcomes but is often not reported.

In the longitudinal studies, data are collected on students and schools before and after a change in start time. Some data that are regularly collected by schools, such as attendance and grades, can be obtained retroactively by researchers. Other data, such as those obtained from student sleep surveys, need to be collected before the start time change is implemented, and including these data can increase the duration of the study. Some studies evaluate characteristics of the same students before and after the change. Others evaluate the student population (either the entire school or specific grades in school) before and after the change. This second method, for instance, could compare outcomes in 9th-grade students in the year before the start time change with the same outcomes in 9th-grade students in the year after the change. Both of these methods have their drawbacks. Although it would seem to be preferable to evaluate the same students before and after a change, individual students can undergo significant changes from year to year that could exaggerate or diminish the effect of changing start times. However, by being able to evaluate changes in variables for individual students, researchers are able to address questions such as, “Did the students who got more sleep after the start time’s change have improved outcomes?” Although longitudinal studies may provide stronger evidence of causation than cross-sectional studies by addressing the issue of temporality, it is important to assess whether appropriate control conditions are used, whether analyses account for covariates (eg, age, sex, or socioeconomic status), and whether other explanatory variables are considered (eg, implementation of graduated drivers licensing).

Sleep and Sleepiness

Since delaying school start times is primarily intended to address the problem of insufficient sleep among adolescents, most of the studies focused on the association between school start times and sleep variables. Not surprisingly, students at schools with later start times got out of bed later on school days than those at earlier starting schools. 35 , 36 , 50 , 53 , 55 , 56 , 60 , 62 – 69 The association between school start times and bedtimes, however, was mixed. Of 19 studies that evaluated the association between school start times and bedtime, there were no start time-associated differences in weekday bedtimes in eleven studies. 35 , 50 , 53 – 55 , 60 , 62 , 67 , 68 , 70 However, six studies observed a later bedtime among students in schools that started at later times. 34 , 36 , 56 , 64 , 66 , 71 It should be noted that in the study by Wolfson and colleagues, this bedtime difference was observed only in the autumn. 64 Two studies unexpectedly reported earlier bedtimes after a delay in start times. 65 , 69 In the study by Owens et al., some students stated that after seeing the benefits of getting more sleep with the delay in school start times, they sought to further increase their sleep by going to bed earlier. 65 In Paksarian et al, bedtimes were delayed by only 10 minutes for each 30 minute delay in school start times. 71 In 29 reports, a later start time was found to be associated with longer weekday sleep duration, 34 , 36 , 38 , 51 – 56 , 60 – 79 including the studies that noted later bedtimes. 34 , 36 , 56 , 64 , 66 , 71 In contrast to the majority of studies that observed longer sleep duration in later starting schools, two studies comparing students from schools with different start times did not observe a significant difference in sleep duration. 35 , 50 For one of these, the difference in sleep duration did not meet the authors’ effect size criterion, although the difference would not have been expected to be large since the difference in school start times was only 20 minutes. 35 The other study observed longer sleep duration for students at the later starting school, but the difference was not statistically significant. 50 Another study observed a significantly longer sleep duration for 7th- and 8th-grade students of only one of two later-starting districts. 60 Sleep duration for the second later-starting district was also longer than for the early-starting district, but the difference was not statistically significant. 60 Paksarian et al. observed longer sleep durations with later school start times (11 minutes for each 30 minute delay in school start times), but only for schools that started before 8:01 AM. 71 In further analysis, the authors found the longer sleep duration for boys only (20 minutes for each 30 minute delay in school start times) and that there was variation by urbanicity, with an increase in sleep duration for boys in major metropolitan areas and a decrease for boys in nonurban counties. 71 The authors suggested that the different association according to urbanicity may be due to differences in mode of transportation to school and time spent traveling to school, but they did not have data to investigate the possible role of transportation in their study. Although nearly all the studies reviewed used self-reported sleep data either from sleep diaries or survey questions, the two studies that used data from electronic wrist monitors (actigraphs) worn during sleep confirmed the general finding of longer weeknight sleep duration for students with later start times. 62 , 70 Eleven of the positive studies found that students got at least one additional minute of sleep for every two minutes of difference in start time (eg, at least 30 minutes more sleep when start time was one hour later), 34 , 55 , 56 , 60 , 61 , 64 , 65 , 68 , 70 , 72 , 78 although six other studies observed smaller, yet statistically significant, differences. 51 , 52 , 62 , 63 , 73 , 74

In addition to reporting longer sleep durations, students with later start times were less likely to report daytime sleepiness or falling asleep in class in nearly all studies that assessed these outcomes. 34 , 36 , 55 , 56 , 60 , 64 , 65 , 69 , 72 , 74 Two studies observed no difference in sleepiness based on school start times. In the Norwegian study, 78 start times were delayed from 8:30 AM to 9:30 AM on Mondays only. The lack of association could have been due to either the change being in effect only one day a week or the earlier start time already being late enough. In the Croatian study, 80 the students at the earlier starting schools were predominantly boys, while girls made up most of the population at the later starting schools. That study found that girls had later chronotype (evening preference) and more sleepiness. In addition, the schools in the Croatian study alternated their schedule weekly, with schools starting in the morning one week and in the afternoon the next. Even with a delay in start time, falling asleep during class appears to remain a major problem, however. In Wahlstrom and colleagues’ survey of students post-start time change, 27% reported falling asleep in a morning class in the previous 2 weeks, and 29% fell asleep in an afternoon class. 61

Other methods for assessing students’ degree of sleep-deficiency were used in various studies. Students in a study by Carskadon and colleagues underwent polysomnography (a type of sleep study that measures multiple factors such as electrical activity in the brain, heart rate, movements of the eyelids and legs, and respiratory airflow) and multiple sleep latency tests. 62 After an advance in start time from 8:25 AM to 7:20 AM, students had a shorter REM sleep latency (time between sleep onset and onset of REM sleep) on polysomnography and a shorter sleep latency (time to sleep onset during a standard testing protocol). 62 Both of these results indicate sleep-deficiency. Differences in sleep patterns between weeknights and weekend nights can also indicate insufficient weeknight sleep as students try to make up for lost sleep on the weekends. Seven reports that evaluated weekend sleep patterns found more “catch-up” sleep on the weekends for earlier start times, 51 , 61 , 64 , 66 , 69 , 74 , 78 although one found no difference in this outcome. 71 One study assessed weeknight and weekend sleep and observed longer weeknight sleep duration and no change in weekend sleep patterns after a delay in school start time, which could be interpreted as a decrease in “catch-up” sleep. 67 However, the difference between weeknight and weekend sleep was not analyzed. Three studies that included information about daytime naps noted that students with earlier school start times reported more napping, 38 , 66 , 75 presumably in an attempt to make up for insufficient nighttime sleep. Sleepy adolescents may also attempt to lessen sleepiness with caffeine. One study asked students about caffeine consumption and observed that caffeine use decreased after a 25 minute delay in school start time. 67

Academics and Cognition

An outcome of particular interest to school administrators, teachers, and parents is academic performance; however, evaluating how delayed start times affect school grades or academic performance is difficult for several reasons. Class grading is not standardized and varies by subject, teacher, and school. Standardized tests such as the Scholastic Aptitude Test or the ACT are not taken by all students and are more likely to be taken by students planning to attend college. Finally, students with very good academic performance before a delay in school start time do not have much room for improvement. Given these limitations, however, some evidence suggests a positive association between later school start time and academic performance, 57 , 58 , 60 , 61 , 64 , 81 although the association may be relatively weak 55 and not universal. 59 , 67 , 80

The first cross-sectional school start time study by the University of Minnesota found higher self-reported grades for students in later starting schools. 60 Mean self-reported grades for the two districts that started before 7:30 AM were 6.4 and 6.5 (on a scale from 1 = mostly F’s to 9 = mostly A’s) compared to 7.1 for the district starting at 8:30 AM (p < .05). However, the increase in grades observed from this group’s subsequent longitudinal study was small and not statistically significant. 55 In their latest longitudinal study including 8 schools, the same group noted that most schools saw an increase in grade point average after delaying school start times. 61 Arlington Public Schools (Arlington County, Virginia) observed an improvement in 10 th grade students’ 1 st period grades after a 45 minute delay in high school start times, with no change in 7 th grade students’ 1 st period grades after a 20 minute advance in middle school start times. 81 Hinrichs’ investigation into ACT scores and school start times in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, which included school districts that did not delay school start times, controlled for various covariates and found no association between school start times and ACT scores. 59 The annual ACT participation rate among Minnesota high school graduates varied from 59% to 66% during the study period (1993–2002). 59 Hinrichs also evaluated the association between school start times and standardized test scores in Kansas (Kansas State Assessments) and the Virginia suburbs of Washington DC. 59 Again, he found no association between school start times and academic achievement in these analyses. 59 Wolfson and colleagues observed higher grades after delaying school start times for 8th grade, although not for 7th-grade students. 64 Another study linked school start times and standardized test scores for middle school students (grades 6–8) from 1999 to 2006 in the eighteenth largest public school district in the United States. 57 In the cross-sectional component of that study, an hour later start time corresponded to higher test scores on both math and reading (on the order of 3 percentile points). 57 The longitudinal component of the same report looked at schools that had changed school start times over the course of the study and found that a one hour delay in start time corresponded to a 2 percentile increase in math and 1.5 percentile increase in reading. 57 Among older students, U.S. Air Force Academy freshmen, students assigned to a first period course and therefore an earlier start to the school day had poorer grades. 58 A longitudinal study of nearly 200 boarding school students did not see a change in self-reported grades after a 25 minute delay in school start times. 67 In Milic et al.’s study in Croatia, students with an earlier school start time performed better academically than students at the schools with later start times. 80 However, in addition to the difference in the make-up of the student populations (more boys at earlier schools and more girls at later schools) in that study, students were also aware of the school schedule at enrollment and the response rate was low.

Several studies have investigated the association between school start time and cognitive outcomes. Two studies found that students with later start times reported fewer problems concentrating and paying attention. 70 , 72 In contrast, a study in Spain measured attention level via a sustained attention task among students at three schools with different start times (8:00, 8:15, and 8:30) and observed the highest average attention level at the school starting at 8:15. 77 However, it should be noted that the mean inductive reasoning score, a measure of intelligence which is positively associated with attention, was significantly lower for the latest-starting school than the other two schools. 77 The Norwegian study that delayed start times on Mondays included reaction time tests and found that students at the school with delayed start time had significantly fewer lapses and faster reaction times on Monday than Friday compared to no difference among students at the control (no delay) school. 78

Several studies asked students how much time they spent on homework. There was no consistent association between school start time and homework time. Wahlstrom and colleagues found that students with later school start times reported less hours of homework, 60 whereas Edwards observed the reverse 57 and Boergers and colleagues saw no difference. 67 Interpretation of these results in difficult. An increase in time doing homework could indicate an improved ability to concentrate or less efficient studying. Since the value of homework is hotly debated, this outcome should not be taken out of context.

Attendance/Tardiness

School attendance is also important for academic success. A recent report found that short sleep duration was strongly associated with odds of school absences. 82 Several studies included in this review found that earlier start times were also related to more frequent tardiness and more absences. 55 , 57 , 60 , 61 , 64 , 65 In one study, even with delaying start times from 8:00 AM to 8:55 AM, nearly a third of students reported being late to class because of oversleeping in the 2 weeks before the survey. 61 However, one study of schools in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area found no association between school start times and overall attendance rates. 59 The report by Arlington Public Schools stated that “maturity, rather than starting time, has the biggest impact on attendance rates.” 81 However, when comparing 10 th graders before and after the delay in high school start times, attendance rates were lower after the delay. Despite this finding, academic performance improved for those students. The report also noted that the attendance reporting procedures changed during the course of the study.

Sleep is strongly linked with many psychiatric disorders, including depression and anxiety. 83 Although sleep problems may be symptoms of mental health disorders such as depression, there is also evidence of a causal relationship between insufficient sleep and depression, as well as mood in general. 84 , 85 Due to this observation, some school start time studies included depression symptoms as part of their student assessments. Students at later-starting schools appeared to experience fewer depression symptoms (lower depression scores). 55 , 60 , 65 , 67 Incidentally, shorter REM sleep latency, such as was observed by Carskadon and colleagues after an advance in start time, 62 is also often observed in major depression. 86 One study found no difference in students’ positive or negative affect with delayed school start time. 78 However, in that study, the start time was delayed on Mondays only.

Motor Vehicle Crashes

Four studies also investigated motor vehicle crashes among young drivers (aged 18 years or younger) in areas served by schools with different start times. In a Kentucky county, Danner and Phillips saw a 16.5% decrease (p < .01) in motor vehicle crash rates for 17- and 18-year-old students in the 2 years following a 1-hour delay in school start time by county high schools. 74 During the same time period, crash rates for this age group increased by 7.8% in the rest of the state. 74 In their 2011 report, Vorona and colleagues compared crash rates for teen drivers aged 16 to 18 years in 2 neighboring, demographically similar cities (in eastern Virginia) with different start times. In 2007 and 2008, the teen crash rates were significantly higher in the city with an earlier school start time. 87 For both cities, teen crashes peaked during the morning commute time. 87 The group went on to perform similar analyses for two adjacent counties in central Virginia with different school start times. 88 During the 2009–2010 school year, crash rates among 16–18 year olds were higher (p < .05) in the county with the earlier school start times. 88 The following year, crash rates among 16–17 year olds were higher (p < .05) in the same county, but difference was not statistically significant when 18 year olds were included in comparison (p = 0.09). 88 Finally, Wahlstrom and colleagues investigated crash rates among 16- to 18-year-old students in 4 areas near schools that underwent delays in start time. Two areas saw major decreases (≥65%) in teen crash rates after the delays, while one saw a small decrease (6%), and another saw a small increase (9%). 61

Other Outcomes

There are a handful of other outcomes that have been reported by only one study each. One study saw that students at schools with later start times spent less time at work during the school week (p < .05). 60 More time working has been linked to poorer academic performance. 89 However, the start time study was cross-sectional and other variables such as socioeconomic status may explain the difference in time spent at work. In the cross-sectional component of his study, Edwards found that students at schools that started later reported less time watching television. 57 When he limited his analyses to schools that changed start times over the time course of the study, he confirmed that students at schools that delayed their start times reported significantly less time watching television. 57 Among 197 boarding school students, no change in time spent in athletics or extracurricular activities was reported after a 25 minute delay in start time. 67 Finally, in a small study of 15 students who transitioned from grade 9 (school start time 8:25) to grade 10 (school start time 7:20), self-reported conduct problems and aggressive behaviors decreased with the change to an earlier start time. 54 However, within each grade, these behaviors were associated with shorter sleep duration, which indicates that at least some of the decrease in these behaviors may be due to maturation. 54

Delaying school start times for adolescents has been proposed as a policy change to address insufficient sleep among adolescents, a largely sleep-deprived population, and potentially to improve students’ academic performance, reduce engagement in risk behaviors, and improve health. Nearly all studies to date provide evidence that delaying school start time accomplishes the goal of increasing sleep duration among these students, primarily by delaying rise times. Most of the studies saw a significant increase in sleep duration even with relatively small delays in start times of half an hour or so. Later school start times also generally corresponded to improved attendance, less tardiness, less falling asleep in class, fewer depression symptoms, and fewer motor vehicle crashes. Although not all studies found that later start times corresponded to improved academic performance, no studies found a negative impact of later school start times on academics.

IMPLICATIONS FOR SCHOOL HEALTH

In 2014, the American Academy of Pediatrics published a policy statement urging middle and high schools to adjust start times to permit students to obtain adequate sleep and improve physical and mental health, safety, academic performance, and quality of life, and suggested that middle and high schools not start before 8:30 AM. 3 Schools and school districts cannot make evidence-based policy decision without data. Therefore, research results such as those presented in this review, as well as the recent recommendations by the American Academy of Pediatrics, should be disseminated to school districts, teachers, parents, and other stakeholders. The field still needs rigorous research, including trials with controls, if possible. Many questions remain, such as the issue of how late is late enough? Much of the focus has been on high school students, but biological changes begin earlier, so further research into middle-school students is warranted. More qualitative research about overcoming obstacles to delaying school start times would also be valuable.

Schools contemplating a change in school start time may consider partnering with researchers before a decision is even made. Baseline data on student sleep characteristics, tardiness due to sleepiness, and prevalence of falling asleep during class may be used in the initial decision of whether to delay school start times. Parents and administrators may not realize the extent of the problem of insufficient sleep among their students and this data may help persuade them that some action is necessary. If school start times are delayed, everyone would benefit from collection of detailed data before and after a time change. Not only would other schools or school districts contemplating a change benefit from expanded evidence, the district that undertook the start time change would be able to evaluate the impact of the change and communicate their findings to their stakeholders. Data collected should include not only sleep-related variables and academic achievement measures, but also measures of mental health (such as depression and anxiety symptoms), behavioral problems, risk behaviors, safety statistics such as motor vehicle crash rates and pedestrian injuries, and information on mode of transportation and travel time. Several obstacles to implementing start time delays are often cited, including costs of changing bus schedules, possible impact on athletics and extracurricular activities, and school faculty and staff resistant to change. However, as recently reported by Owens et al. 90 in their examination of school districts that have delayed school start times, many anticipated problems fail to materialize or are only temporary. Several school districts have seen savings in transportation costs after changes made to facilitate delayed start times. 90 Success stories describing how districts creatively overcame obstacles to school start time changes should be shared (for example http://www.startschoollater.net/success-stories.html ) to provide ideas to other districts contemplating change.

Disclaimer : The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Contributor Information

Anne G. Wheaton, Epidemiologist, Division of Population Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Hwy. NE, Mailstop F-78, Atlanta, GA 30341-3717, Phone: (770) 488-5362, Fax: (770) 488-5965, vog.cdc@9opi .

Daniel P. Chapman, Epidemiologist, Division of Population Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Hwy. NE, Mailstop F-78, Atlanta, GA 30341-3717, Phone: (770) 488-5463, vog.cdc@2cpd .

Janet B. Croft, Branch Chief, Epidemiology and Surveillance Branch, Division of Population Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Hwy. NE, Mailstop F-78, Atlanta, GA 30341-3717, Phone: (770) 488-2566, vog.cdc@0cbj .

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Should Your School Day Start Later?

If it did, would students get more sleep? Or would they just stay up later?

By Shannon Doyne

Find all our Student Opinion questions here.

Do you get enough sleep during the school year? If not, what keeps you from being well rested?

Do you wish your school day started later? In your opinion, what would be the advantages and drawbacks of a later start time?

In “ California Tells Schools to Start Later, Giving Teenagers More Sleep, ” Christine Hauser and Isabella Kwai write about a new California law that pushes back start times at most public middle and high schools. The law cites research that says attendance and performance will improve if teenagers get more sleep. The article states:

The passage of the law followed years of mounting calls for later school start times from sleep experts who said such a move would optimize learning, reduce tardiness and contribute to overall well-being. The law encourages districts to publish research on their websites about the impact of sleep deprivation on adolescents. A frequently cited policy statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics, made in 2014, called insufficient sleep for adolescents a “public health issue” and recommended that most schools start no earlier than 8:30 a.m. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine agreed. In one 2006 poll from the National Sleep Foundation, 45 percent of adolescents in the United States said they slept for an insufficient length of time on school nights, and 19 percent of students said they fell asleep in school at least once a week. Another study, published in 2017 by the University of Minnesota, which surveyed 9,000 students across five school districts with varying start times, found that those who started school later slept more. Students who had more sleep reported better mental health outcomes and less use of substances like alcohol and cigarettes. Students who slept more also had improved attendance and enrollment rates, and they were less likely to drive while drowsy. About 90 percent of high schools and 80 percent of middle schools in the nation start before 8:30 a.m., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in 2014.

Students, read the entire article, then tell us:

Do you feel like you get enough sleep?

What would be your ideal time to start the school day? What about to end the school day? Why?

How would changing your school’s start and end times affect activities like sports, clubs and part-time jobs?

Anthony J. Portantino, a Democratic state senator who wrote the bill, calls later start times for schools a “magic bullet” when it comes to education. What are your thoughts on this? Can later start times really improve things like test scores, attendance and graduation rates? Explain.

Students 13 and older are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.

10 Reasons Why School Should Start Later (Top Benefits!)

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

Learn about our Editorial Process

Research demonstrates that school starting later is good for adolescents . It can give them more time to sleep and even improve test scores.

Nevertheless, school starting later does have some downsides. Parents need to get their children off to school early so they can go to work and earn money for their families.

Here are my top 10 reasons why school should start later.

• Helps students focus
• Caters to their natural sleep timetable
• Reduce the risk of car accidents
• Reduces risky behavior
• Improves information retention
• Helps teens feel happier
• Improves attendance
• Reduces stress
• Increases breakfast consumption
• Caters to their needs

There are a number of reasons school should start later, and it’s not just because the teenagers are being lazy and want to sleep in. The rest of this article will address the scientific reasons defending a later start for schools.

Don’t miss the other side of the debate: Reasons School Should Start Earlier!

Reasons Why School should Start Later

1. school helps students focus.

One of the primary reasons school should start later is that it helps them focus. For students who are naturally inclined to stay up late and sleep in, going to school earlier can disrupt their circadian rhythm, diminishing their capacity to retain information.

What teachers often mistake for laziness is often the student’s body being negatively impacted by an unnatural biological cycle, compounding in a lack of focus on schoolwork.

In fact, a study by Lufi et al. (2011) found that an extra hour of sleep for adolescents significantly increased their attention levels on the “Mathematics Continuous Performance Test”.

By contrast, students that have a hard time focusing are also often singled out for misbehavior, which can affect their self-perception and make them less inclined to put in effort at school.

2. Caters to Their Natural Sleep Schedule

Another important reasons why school should start later is that a later start is better for students’ natural sleep cycle.

Especially for teenagers, the tendency is to stay up late and sleep longer, needing 8.5-9.5 hours to be fully rested. For a student who goes to bed at 11p.m., they would need to sleep until 7:30-8:30a.m. to be fully rested, a time frame when most schools have already started.

At the end of the day, better sleep means better performance in school. Students who feel refreshed in the morning are more likely to be optimistic about the day’s work and more receptive to learning.

3. Reduces the Risk of Car Accidents

Aside from improving student learning, a longer rest period for students who drive reduces the risk of car accidents.

For teens who are just learning how to drive, adding on an early school start is just a recipe for disaster. Teenagers make up over 50% of all car accidents that involve fatalities, and it certainly makes one wonder just how many of them are caused by sleep deprivation.

Lack of sleep slows down motor reflexes (Taheri & Arabameri, 2012) and makes a driver far more likely to make an error in judgement and cause an accident. Paired with their biological need to sleep longer, teens who start school earlier are more likely to get into accidents in the morning.

4. Reduces Other Risky Behaviors

Sleep-deprived teenagers are more likely to engage in any risky behaviors, not just driving dangerously.

While, of course, there are other factors that contribute to adolescent risk-taking (not least of which is an underdeveloped brain ), there’s no denying that sleep-deprived students aren’t using their mental faculties to full effect when it comes to risky decision making.

Switching to a later start time can help students, especially teenagers, feel more rested, emotionally stable, and less sleep-deprived so that they maximize their chances of making intelligent decisions.

5. Improves Information Retention

As well as helping students focus in the classroom environment, a later school start helps students retain information during class, especially those first and second period classes getting into the swing of the day.

Retaining information requires a lot of brainpower, something that students might struggle to conjure up if they are sleep-deprived.

A later start gives students more time to prepare themselves mentally for the day of learning ahead, helping them retain more information along the way.

One of the most extensive systematic reviews of the literature on school start times found that mid- to long-term memory retention is mildly improved with increased sleep in adolescents (Marx et al., 2017).

6. Helps Teens Feel Happier

When school starts early, teenagers can feel as though their natural circadian rhythm is off all the time, negatively affecting their mood and sense of well-being.

In fact, well-being is one of the most positive outcomes from research on late school start times (Marx et al., 2017).

Anecdotally, teenagers seem to be inclined to go to bed later (perhaps due to less self-governing abilities than adults). They also tend to need longer periods of rest than adults because they are going through significant physical and cognitive changes.

With that in mind, a later start to school is more in line with their biological needs and can positively affect their happiness.

7. Improved Attendance (Potentially)

Students who struggle in school or don’t see the merit in education often have a hard time motivating themselves to work hard, or even attend school at all.

When classes begin before 8:00, which is common in most schools, students on the periphery may feel more inclined to skip first period altogether to catch up on their sleep.

Starting a little later removes that concern and helps students who are struggling to motivate themselves take a little more time in the morning to prepare for the day ahead.

8. Reduced Stress

In a similar vein, students face a lot of stress that can negatively affect their performance in school, and the prospect of starting school so early is yet another factor that may contribute to stress in their lives.

Starting school later may on a case-by-case basis reduce stress, especially when it comes to attending first period. For example, the systematic review by Marx et al. (2017) found that some research shows that children often “are less tense at home, and school nurses have reported fewer stress-related complaints and illnesses.”

9. They Eat More Breakfast

A later school starting time may mean students will consume more breakfast.

Marx et al’s (2017, p. 13) systematic review found that some evidence points toward this outcome:

“There has been some indication (especially in Wahlstrom 2002) that students in later starting schools eat breakfast more often.”

Of course, intuitively this makes sense. They will have more time in the morning to prepare for school, meaning there is extra space in the day to allow young people to prepare and eat their breakfast.

The benefits of eating breakfast are vast – including heart health, better memory retention, and more stable moods.

10. Caters to Their Needs

Lastly, and in summation, starting school later than 8:00 helps cater to what the students want and need.

Most students would prefer not to have to run through the routine of preparing for school early in the morning if they could start later, and for teenagers especially, starting later could be a way to address their wants and needs .

There are a number of reasons school should start later than it does, and most students would jump at the chance to shift their first period back by just an hour. Starting school later helps students get a better night’s sleep, focus on their classwork, and improves their chances of success.

Other Debate Topics

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Bowers, J. M., & Moyer, A. (2017). Effects of school start time on students’ sleep duration, daytime sleepiness, and attendance: a meta-analysis.  Sleep health ,  3 (6), 423-431.

Lufi, D., Tzischinsky, O., & Hadar, S. (2011). Delaying school starting time by one hour: some effects on attention levels in adolescents.  Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine ,  7 (2), 137-143.

Marx, R., Tanner‐Smith, E. E., Davison, C. M., Ufholz, L. A., Freeman, J., Shankar, R., … & Hendrikx, S. (2017). Later school start times for supporting the education, health, and well‐being of high school students: a systematic review.  Campbell Systematic Reviews ,  13 (1), 1-99.

Taheri, M., & Arabameri, E. (2012). The effect of sleep deprivation on choice reaction time and anaerobic power of college student athletes.  Asian journal of sports medicine ,  3 (1), 15.

Wahistrom, K. (2002). Changing times: Findings from the first longitudinal study of later high school start times.  Nassp Bulletin ,  86 (633), 3-21. Widome, R., Berger, A. T., Iber, C., Wahlstrom, K., Laska, M. N., Kilian, G., … & Erickson, D. J. (2020). Association of delaying school start time with sleep duration, timing, and quality among adolescents.  JAMA pediatrics ,  174 (7), 697-704.

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Why Should School Start Later?

Table of Contents

Teens reverie sleep each day. This need does not imply laziness on their part or lack of ambition thereof. Instead, sleep cycles change as children grow into adolescence. In adolescence, teens stay up until late and only get up late. It happens because their bodies release a hormone called melatonin which regulates their sleep. Consequently, the melatonin-induced rest keeps teens asleep until 8 a.m. making it appropriate to go to school later. Schools starting later help improve physiological and psychological well-being and help improve learners’ educational performance.

Physiological and Physical Well-Being

Arguably, the most crucial reason schools should start later is adolescent physiology. Adolescents are still growing and developing, and their body clocks are still changing. Studies have shown that, due to these changes, adolescents tend to go to bed later and wake up later than adults, leading to a lack of sleep (Crowley et at., 2018). This lack of sleep can negatively affect adolescents’ physical and mental health, such as fatigue, irritability, and poor concentration. Starting school later would allow adolescents to get the amount of sleep they need. A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that when schools started later, adolescents got an extra 42 minutes of sleep per night compared to when schools began earlier. This extra sleep can help to improve their physical and mental health and can help to improve their performance in school.

The teenage years are a time of rapid physical and psychological growth and development. As adolescents try to figure out who they are and where they fit in, they often feel overwhelmed by the pressures of school, their peers, and society. As a result, adolescents are more prone to stress and anxiety than adults. One way to help reduce this stress is to start school later in the morning. By giving adolescents more time to rest and relax before facing the pressures of school, they can better manage their stress levels (Freeman et at., 2020). Studies have shown that adolescents report feeling less stressed, more rested, and more alert when school starts later in the morning. These findings suggest that starting school later in the morning can reduce stress and improve psychological functioning in adolescents. In addition to reducing stress, starting school later can also help to enhance adolescents’ self-esteem.

Adolescents often struggle with insecurity and self-doubt as they try to fit in with their peers and find their place in the world (Freeman et al., 2020). As a result, they often compare themselves to their peers, leading to feelings of inadequacy and low self-esteem. Starting school later can reduce this pressure by giving adolescents more time to rest and relax. This habit can help adolescents to accept themselves for who they are and be more confident in their abilities. Evidence from studies has shown that when school starts later in the morning, adolescents report feeling more positive about themselves, including handling more confident, less anxious, and less stressed (Patrick et al., 2020). Starting school later can also help adolescents better manage their emotions. Adolescents often struggle with regulating their emotions and can become easily overwhelmed by their feelings. These emotional states can lead to irritability, impulsivity, and aggression. However, starting school later in the morning can help reduce these feelings, giving adolescents more time to rest and relax before facing the pressures of school. Evidence from studies has shown that when school starts later, adolescents report feeling less irritable, more alert, and more capable of managing their emotions.

Educational Reasons

The most apparent educational benefit of starting school later is that it gives students more time to sleep. Sleep is an essential part of a healthy lifestyle and is vital for students’ physical and mental health. A later start can give students more time to get the sleep they need to be well-rested and alert during the school day. Studies have shown that students who get adequate sleep are more likely to perform academically, attend better, and be more motivated in school (Sweller et al., 2019). In addition to the potential health benefits of getting more sleep, starting school later can also provide more time for learning and development. With more time in the morning, adolescents can participate in activities such as studying, reading, or reviewing material they learned the previous day. This action can help improve their understanding of the material and help them retain the information longer.

A later start time can also provide more time for extracurricular activities and sports. These activities can help improve adolescents’ physical health and provide them with opportunities for social interaction and emotional development (Freeman et al., 2020). Providing adolescents more time for these activities can help improve their overall well-being. Furthermore, starting school later can help to reduce the stress that students often experience. With a later start time, students can spend more time on activities they enjoy and less worrying about getting up for school in the morning. This will help reduce stress levels and allows students to focus more on their education.

In conclusion, there are many advantages to having school start later. School starting later would give students more time to get adequate sleep, which helps with their mental and physical health. Furthermore, students would be more alert and have better focus during their classes, allowing them to absorb more information and make better grades. Later starting times also give students more time to spend on extracurricular activities and less time worrying about homework and exams. Finally, starting school later would reduce students’ stress and help create a more positive school environment. In addition, starting school later would benefit both students and teachers, an idea that school administrators should seriously consider.

• Crowley, S. J., Wolfson, A. R., Tarokh, L., & Carskadon, M. A. (2018). An update on adolescent sleep: New evidence informing the perfect storm model. Journal of Adolescence, 67 , 55-65.
• Freeman, S., Marston, H. R., Olynick, J., Musselwhite, C., Kulczycki, C., Genoe, R., & Xiong, B. (2020). Intergenerational effects on the impacts of technology use in later life: Insights from an international, multi-site study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17 (16), 5711.
• Patrick, S. W., Henkhaus, L. E., Zickafoose, J. S., Lovell, K., Halvorson, A., Loch, S., … & Davis, M. M. (2020). The well-being of parents and children during the COVID-19 pandemic: A national survey. Pediatrics ,  146 (4).
• Sweller, J., van Merriënboer, J. J., & Paas, F. (2019). Cognitive architecture and instructional design: 20 years later. Educational Psychology Review, 31 (2), 261-292.
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Persuasive Essay About Why School Should Start Later

Table of contents:

• Introduction
• Body paragraphs

It’s one of the favoured topics among high school students. You’re tired. After being up late last night, your school day started at 8:30 am this morning, and you want to know if anything can be done about it. Or perhaps you’re an early bird and like the time that school starts in the morning. Well, you can write a persuasive essay, and maybe if it’s good enough, your voice will be heard, either way.

Start off by taking a firm stance with your thesis statement. Whether you feel school should start later in the morning, or should not, you need to figure out why, and the reasons and benefits (or negatives) in your own mind, first of all. Make a quick outline with your statement of purpose at the top, followed by each point you want to make and the evidence you are going to use to support each point. Remember that you can use any evidence you like in a persuasive essay; it need not be restricted to facts and figures, but can be anecdotal, emotive, or statistical. Think of yourself as a politician trying to persuade an audience to vote for him or her.

Introduction examples

Pro: It’s been proven in many studies that teenagers do better with a later start to the day. With this in mind, why do we still start school at 8:30 in the morning?

Con: Starting later in the day at school interferes with parents’ working days, encourages students to stay up late, and would cause problems with after-school practices for sports.

Moving on into the body of your essay, carry on following your outline, setting up each point and presenting your evidence as you go. Have a look at potential titles, too, which should be reflective of your thesis statement.

Body paragraphs examples

Pro: Teenagers in high school should start at about 10 am. This would allow for a leisurely morning, making the day start off less fraught and stressful. A teenager could stay up until midnight or 1 am and still get a decent amount of sleep, which doesn’t happen when they have to wake up at 6:30 or 7 am. Traffic, too, will be more spread out, easing congestion, and students can take the time to get a good breakfast and be really mentally prepared for the day.

Con: Parents worry about getting themselves to work on time even when school starts at 8:30. A lot of working days would have to change significantly for people to get to work on time if high school started at 10 am instead. This could lead to large amounts of business disruption, and possible discrimination against parents for needing more flexible working hours.

Your conclusion is your last chance to leave an impression on your audience, so make it significant and meaningful. Start by briefly reiterating what your points were, and finish with a bang by calling on your audience to take some action in response to your essay.

Conclusion examples

Pro: Starting later results in benefits for teachers, benefits for students, and also for parents. Think about how rested you’d feel if you had a full eight hours or more sleep each night, and how much more you could get done in your day.

Con: A later school start will throw Australian cities into chaos and maybe even cause some parents to face consequences at work. The way things are now is fine, and there’s no need to fix what isn’t broken.

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Let’s learn about why schools should start later.

Most U.S. high schools start before 8:30 a.m. — too early, according to experts

When school times start later, teens tend to feel better and do better in school.

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By Maria Temming

January 17, 2023 at 6:30 am

One of the hardest things about going back to school after a break is waking up for it. And unfortunately, many schools start too early, according to scientific experts.

The American Academy of Pediatrics says that middle and high schools shouldn’t start before 8:30 a.m. That’s because as people go through puberty, their internal clocks naturally shift . It becomes hard for them to nod off before 11:00 p.m. But teens still need an average of nine hours of sleep per night. So, when they have to get up before the sun peeks over the horizon, they miss out on crucial shut-eye.

Dozing in class is only the most visible of problems cause by this lack of sleep. That sleep now lost to early alarm clocks is vital for helping the body grow and heal from illness or injuries. The brain also loses out on time to process memories. Sleepy teens are more likely to feel anxious or depressed, as well as use drugs or alcohol. And sleeping in on weekends is no replacement for lost zzz’s during the week. Binge-sleeping poses its own health risks .

Some schools have shifted their start times to later in the morning. Researchers are now tracking the impacts. It seems that teens who start school later do get more sleep. They’re more likely to get to class on time and stay awake during the day. They even seem to do better in school .

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Want to know more? We’ve got some stories to get you started:

Starting schools later leads to less tardiness, fewer ‘zombies’ With extra sleep, teens are less likely to oversleep or feel tired every day, data show. (10/5/2021) Readability: 6.9

Later school starts linked to better teen grades Low-income students also may find it easier to get to school with later start times. (2/5/2019) Readability: 6.7

Survey finds U.S. schools start ‘too early ’ Majority of U.S. public middle and high schools start before 8:30 a.m. (9/10/2015) Readability: 6.0

Explore more

Scientists Say: Circadian

Scientists Say: Melatonin

Explainer: The teenage body clock

Let’s learn about sleep

The steady creep of less sleep

Study links weight to when the school bell rings

Early school starts can turn teens into ‘zombies’

Surprise! Exam scores benefit from months of regular sleep

You may not be able to control when your school starts. But you can try to get the most shuteye — and the most out of it — possible. Find out how healthy your sleep schedule is by  keeping a sleep diary . Track when you wake up and go to bed, as well as daytime activities that can affect sleep — such as exercise, drinking caffeine and napping. This can help you find out whether any part of your daily routine might be making it harder to get enough sleep. Plus, check out these  tips for improving your “sleep hygiene.”

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Home / Essay Samples / Education / Starting School Later / Critical Analysis of the Speech on Why School Should Start Later

Critical Analysis of the Speech on Why School Should Start Later

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• Topic: Issues in Education , Starting School Later

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Critical Analysis

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