The sound of your phone’s alarm blares into your ear drum. As you go to hit stop the time reads 5 in the morning. You groan as you catch a glimpse of the outside world. The sun isn’t even up and it’s completely dark outside! Now it’s a race against the clock as you have to get ready before the bus arrives to pick you up. Say goodbye to eating a full meal because you barely have enough time to finish a bowl of cereal. Something needs to be done.

According to an article written by the CDC (Center of Disease Control and Prevention), “The American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended that middle and high schools start at 8:30 a.m. or later to give students the opportunity to get the amount of sleep they need.” However, as pretty much all of you should know, Mondays through Thursdays, our school school day begins at 7:20 a.m. which is an hour and 10 minutes less than what the CDC recommends.

Sleep is the single most important thing a student needs while attending school, especially students in high school. In the same article by the CDC it states, “Adolescents who do not get enough sleep are more likely to be overweight, not engage in daily physical activity, suffer from symptoms of depression, engage in unhealthy risk behaviors such as drinking, smoking tobacco, and use illicit drugs, and perform poorly in school.”
“I don’t think it’s wise to have students be forced to learn things when it is super early in the morning, and half of them are sleep deprived,” said William Thai 15, “I think school should start later so that kids can learn in the most optimal way possible, maybe 2 hours later.”
However, the school isn’t the only one to be blamed for this. Students should encourage themselves to help promote good sleep. In the CDC article it also states, “During puberty, adolescents become sleepy later at night and need to sleep later in the morning as a result of shifts in biological rhythms. These biological changes are often combined with poor sleep habits (including irregular bedtimes and the presence of electronics in the bedroom).” Essentially, teens have trouble sleeping early because their bodies are conditioned to sleep later due them being on their electronics till hours close to midnight.
“Yes, school starts too early. With how long homework can take students, some of us can be up as late as 11 p.m., and due to how our circadian rhythm works we require a lot more sleep,” said Irene Lambert, 16. “Some of us have to get up at 6 or even 5 a.m., so 7 to 6 hours of sleep isn’t going to cut it.”

Seattle Public Schools have operated the last couple years with a later start for all of its high schools with a 8:50 am with a release time of 3:40 pm. The only challenge has been sports and activities. Other school districts like Everett have also explored the with a later start time.