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In Class Essay
In Class Essay
Berkovits
Naomi Berkovits
ENGL 120
14 June 2022
Sleep is important for people’s health and wellbeing. As a result, some schools have
implemented a later start time, so adolescents can get an adequate amount of sleep. The
results of such experiments were overall positive. Later start times created a system based on
the unique needs of the adolescent’s biological makeup. Adolescents who sleep on their proper
schedule have a lower risk of mental illness, drug abuse, and achieve higher grades.
Teenagers sleep in late because of biological factors that create a shift in their sleep
patterns. The circadian system of teenagers is different than those of adults (Urton 2018).
Therefore, many institutions have been pushing later start times in order to allow teenagers to
get more sleep. Some might argue that children need to be on the same schedule as their
parents. For many low-income families and single parent homes, it is too difficult to have their
children start later then work (Mijares 2019). What they might not realize it how different
adolescents’ internal clocks are. De La Iglesia compares asking “a teen to be up and alert at 7:30
a.m. is like asking an adult to be active and alert at 5:30 a.m.” (Urton 2018). Adolescents’
schedule should go according to their specific needs and not the schedule of the adult world
around them.
Furthermore, lack of sleep has many negative impacts on adolescents physical and
mental health. Since teenagers naturally go to bed late, when they must wake up early for
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Berkovits
school, they don’t get the required 8-10 hours of sleep (Center for Disease Control and
Prevention). This leads to the many problems teenagers face in high school. Lack of sleep can
lead to becoming “overweight, drinking alcohol, smoking tobacco, and using drugs” (Center for
Disease Control and Prevention). Sleeping can be the solution to potential life changing bad
habit, like drug abuse. When I was in high school and running on not enough sleep, every issue
was magnified, and many bad coping skills were implemented. When looking at the bigger
picture, it’s clear that encouraging more sleep for adolescents is a small change with great
impact.
Additionally, sleep can have many beneficial outcomes for adolescents. A study revealed
that the marks in a biology class “were 4.5 percent higher for students who took the class after
school start times were pushed back” (Urton 2018). As well, it helped decrease lateness and
morning absences amongst the students at Franklin (Urton 2018). Overall, “well-rested
teenagers are better and healthier students” (Albarrán and Funk 2019).
These studies conclude that the benefits of starting school later are healthy, well-
rounded adolescents. Sleeping in and beginning late supports the natural schedule of
teenagers. Hopefully, more schools will take initiative so that adolescents can have well rested
Albarrán, Nancy, and Chris Funk. “School Start Times Should Remain a Local Decision.”
remain-a-local-decision/618127.
Mijares, Al. “Later School Start Times Is No Solution for Teenagers.” CalMatters, 4 Oct.
teenagers/.
“Schools Start Too Early.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for
start-too-early.html.
Urton, James. “Teens Get More Sleep, Show Improved Grades and Attendance with
Later School Start Time, Researchers Find.” UW News, University of Washington, 12 Dec.