Education News – Grace Smith
“Schools nationwide are considering delaying school start times to better match the needs of teenagers. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), earlier this year released a statement that adolescents who do not get enough sleep can suffer from physical and mental health problems, an increase in automobile accidents, and a decline in academic performance. Unfortunately, teens’ natural sleep cycle makes it difficult for them to fall asleep before 11:00 p.m. and then attend a 7:30 a.m. — or earlier — first class the next day. The AAP recommends that middle and high schools delay the start of class time to 8:30 a.m. or later. This would bring school times in alignment with the biological sleep rhythms of adolescents, for whom sleep-wake cycles begin to shift up to two hours later at the start of puberty.”(more)