A new study says that the health of the students as well as their academic performance is at risk because of early start of school time. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or CDC reports that the 8:00 am school start across the country is too early to give ample time for students to rest and sleep. Thus, they are at risk for many health and mental issues.
In the study published in the journal Pediatrics, most students from grade school, middle high school and senior high school are going to school too early for them to have enough sleep to last for the day. Sleep is a very important aspect of health among teenagers because this is the time of their growth spurts. However, most students are not getting the average required sleep imposed by the World Health Organization.
Medical News Today reports that the researchers investigated the role of school times on the sleeping patterns of children and students. The data were collected from the CDC and US Department of Education from surveys between 2011 and 2012 from around 40,000 public middle high and senior high schools.
"Getting enough sleep is important for students' health, safety, and academic performance. Early school start times, however, are preventing many adolescents from getting the sleep they need," said lead author Anne Wheaton, PhD, an epidemiologist in the CDC's Division of Population Health.
According to Live Science, the researchers found that the average start time for school was 8:03 am. Furthermore, 42 states reported that 75-100% of the public schools start classes at 8:30 am. Other schools in some states even start school earlier. In fact, in Hawaii, Mississippi and Wyoming, no classes started at 8:30 am or later while in Louisiana, they start the earliest with classes at 7:40 am.
Many studies have linked too little sleep with various health problems in teenagers like depression, obesity, and lack of energy for exercise. Furthermore, they found out that lack of sleep have been linked to poor academic performance.
CDC is recommending that delaying school may help in giving children ample sleep to students. However, they are not disregarding the fact that other factors may influence students to sleep late. So, they are asking health care practitioners in schools to educate and raise awareness among students on the importance of having enough sleep both for school performance and health.
