Sleepy Kids

Something odd happens within the brains of your typical teenager (well, besides some of the obvious), and it involves sleep. As a result, some schools have shifted their start times...and not everyone is happy about it.  Here's the story...

If you've had a hard time understanding your teenager, you can take some of the blame OFF the video games now and place it where it belongs: on physiology.

In particular, researchers have clearly shown that the teenage brain doesn't produce melatonin at the same time your's does, or at the same time as your toddler, for that matter. Melatonin is the hormone that regulates sleep, and science now knows that your basic adolescent is practically hard-wired to stay up later, and consequently sleep later. You can put them to bed at 9, but their body will tell them to stay awake until about 11.

High school teachers have grappled with this forever; school might begin at 7:30, but at least a fourth of their students are barely able to open their eyes.

In the last few years, many school districts have attempted to work with this biological issue by adjusting the starting time of high school. Minnesota has been experimenting with this for more than ten years, and even schools in the Denver area have made changes. The problem, however, doesn't seem to be in the results, but rather in the outcry from parents.

Proponents of a later first bell offer these benefits: Students are more alert, tardiness/absenteeism is reduced, rates of depression are lower, and general behavior improved. Opponents mention these drawbacks: Transportation problems, especially with drastic differences in start times between high school and, say, elementary (little kids seem to be on the same melatonin schedule as adults...as witnessed by those of you with four-year-olds who woke you up this morning at 6:15), more unsupervised behavior for younger kids in the afternoon when their older siblings are still at high school, and a disruption in after-school activities, whether it's athletics or jobs.

In short, the majority of the complaints fall into the category of inconvenience for the parents, which is valid and understandable. Yet for a nation that seems to squawk an awful lot about improving the education system, you would think more people would be in favor of implementing changes that have a solid scientific base.

Obviously the jury is still out, but it should at least be food for thought. Teenagers are different creatures, and if there's an advantage to shifting the school day to accomodate their hormones, shouldn't we at least investigate it?

There is a ton of information online; simply google "starting school later" and see what pops up.

Comments

[Jen]

I have often been pulled into conversations on this topic as a teacher. It is amazing how high school kids are struggling and yet we don't make the appropriate changes to help them for all the reasons you mentioned. In the elementary school, I have to say that we are also affected. You joked about the younger kids that get up so early. By the time we start at 8-9 in elementary schools, our students have been up for 2-3 hours. By this time, they are already bored with home and restless. More importantly, imagine them at 3 when they are ready for a nap/break!! It seems that the easy answer would be to swap schedules. But, then how would we run our sports teams?? I worry less about time at home as those same elementary kids are at home in the morning unsupervised.

[Roxanne Rieske]

I'm sorry to say it, but school boards need to get a clue. If changing the school schedule improves teenagers' ability to learn and increases their chances for success in school, then it needs to be done. Period.

In a country with one of the lousiest educational systems, where our students are doomed to failure in a global marketplace, parents can't afford to complain.