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The interplay between sleep and mood in predicting academic functioning, physical health and psychological health: a longitudinal study - PubMed

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Sleep duration and quality have direct and indirect (via mood) effects on college students’ academic function, physical and psychological health. Our findings underscore the importance of healthy sleep patterns for better adjustment in college years.

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Counterclaim Article - Go Gale/USA Today

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Counterclaim Article - Go Gale/USA Today

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Delaying high school start times is not the easy solution that proponents would have you believe.

In Seattle, where I'm on the school board, we spent more than a year grappling with this concept and agreed to push back high school bell times when school opens. The idea seems simple, doesn't it? If kids need more sleep, start school later to accommodate them. Research and common sense support it. But it's complicated.

School districts considering a shift can expect higher transportation costs. In most, the same buses transport teenage students first and their younger siblings later. Pushing back high school start times might require doubling the fleet. In Seattle, we opted to cut costs by flipping elementary school start and end times earlier.

For some families, this flip isn't a problem; a responsible person is already home when youngsters arrive. But for many lower-income working families, this isn't an option, as one or both parents lacks the job flexibility to welcome kids home. Research on what happens to unsupervised children when a parent or an older sibling can't be home should give anyone pause. As should the prospect of the youngest kids standing in the early morning darkness waiting for a bus.

Junior and high school students engage in myriad after-school activities -- and all will be pushed later. Many won't be able to hold after-school jobs and internships or join in other experiential learning opportunities when schools run later. The shift plays havoc with athletic programs, too. Many teams play districts with earlier start times. Some fields lack sufficient light for later play, or are also used by adult programs vying for the same time slots.

Finally, Seattle's ethnic achievement and opportunity gaps are among the worst in the nation, though nearly every school district faces similar problems. The extensive time spent on this bell-time shift was a tremendous distraction from critical efforts to address these gaps, which have lifelong consequences for thousands of our students. Districts considering similar proposals should be aware that other priorities could be sacrificed in order to engage with communities and implement a bell-times change.

Stephan Blanford is an education consultant and a Seattle school board director. The views expressed are his own.

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Delaying high school start times is not the easy solution that proponents would have you believe. In Seattle, where I'm on the school board, we spent more than a year grappling with this concept and agreed to push back high school bell times when school opens. The idea seems simple, doesn't it?

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C - Published 4, Jan, 2019
R - This article provides information only on the side of starting later, which is my eye. A bias is clear only by the title.
A - The author, Brittany McNamara, is the wellness news editor at Teen Vogue.
A - Most of the evidence used in this article is said by Adam Conover, who is the host of the show Adam Ruins Everything. He is not in a career of any sort relating to the sleep teens need, or school. Instead, he is more of a comedian and actor, making him less qualified on this subject. He talks about circadian rhythms, which he knows about due to the researchers for his show.
P - The purpose of the article is to persuade. This is because of the bias presented, at one point, Conover even suggests ways for students to tell school admins to change the start time of their own school district.

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When I was in high school, it took a lot to get me out of bed and into class on time. Countless days, I'd sleep through my alarm, prompting my mom to scream at me from down the hall or my dad to yank the covers off me in a last-ditch attempt to get me to school before the bell. But what my parents seemed to think was laziness was at odds with my overall personality-I got good grades, was part of countless clubs, and played sports. If you didn't know about the daily drama that was getting out of bed, you might guess that I woke up early each morning excited to get to school. I know I'm not the only one who chronically hit snooze in my teen years, or the only one who was called lazy because of it. But, fellow sleepers, it turns out teen exhaustion isn't our fault. According to science, our schools might be to blame.

Researchers have long recommended that high schools push back start times to be later in the morning, departing from the average 8 a.m. call time for class (https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/sass/tables/sass1112_201381_s1n.asp). While the benefits of making school start later could be many for teens-including better performance in school, fewer reports of depression, and more-Adam Conover of truTV's Adam Ruins Everything noted in a recent episode that the impact could also literally save lives (https://www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/backgrounder-later-school-start-times). He knows this because in a recent episode of the show, he ruined sleep (https://www.trutv.com/full-episodes/adam-ruins-everything/2178155/index.html).

"Basically, what researchers found is our circadian rhythms ... change as we age. Teens need a little more sleep than adults, nine hours or so, and they also are hardwired to go to sleep later and to wake up later in the morning," Adam told Teen Vogue. Because teens are biologically driven to go to sleep and wake up later, Adam said most teens are sleep deprived likely because they have to wake up early for school. This, he said, can have deadly consequences. "The result [of sleep deprivation] is really bad for the teens because it lowers their performance in school, but also drowsy driving is a serious problem."

According to the National Sleep Foundation, Adam is spot on (https://www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/teens-and-sleep). Teenagers need about eight to 10 hours of sleep each night, but few get it. One study found that only 15% of teens reported getting 8 1/2 hours of rest on a school night. Not getting enough sleep can lead to unhealthy eating, depression, other health problems, and can result in drowsy driving, which is what Adam was talking about. The Sleep Foundation notes that drowsy driving causes more than 100,000 crashes every year, and can be just as bad as driving drunk.

The Sleep Foundation has a number of recommendations to help young people avoid sleep deprivation, including starting school later. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has also cited early school start times as a reason teens don't get enough sleep (https://www.cdc.gov/features/school-start-times/index.html), and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended in 2014 that schools across the country push back start times until 8:30 a.m. at the earliest (https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/134/3/642).

So, if making school start later could potentially lead to better test scores, healthier teens, and fewer drowsy driving accidents, why hasn't it been done? Well, there may be a few reasons. The stereotype that teens are lazy could be one of them.

"The weird thing is that parents tend to treat it as kids are just lazy," Adam said. "My mom used to spray me with a water bottle. Even today, my mom, when I go visit her, when I wake up at 8 a.m. now she's like, 'Ooooh.' It's a natural change of life. Despite that, we organize our society in a way that ignores that truth about that. It's hurting the children our society wants to protect."

Many schools across the country have looked into pushing back school start times but fell short of actually making the change. Some schools have cited money problems, as many school districts stagger school start times to allow them to use one fleet of buses to carry students at various grade levels, which saves money. Other districts share buses, meaning the start time change would impact more than just one set of students. For other districts, sports leagues are a barrier to shifting start times-since many games in regional high school sports leagues operate on an early start, and therefore earlier release, timeline, some have argued that starting later would cause scheduling issues if not all schools in the regional league were on board.

And while some adults call teens the lazy ones, Adam suggested another reason school start times haven't been pushed back is that the stereotype might be the other way around.

"I think it's a matter of looking at the arguments against it and debunking them one by one," he said. "The first thing you're going to hear is, 'When are we going to have football?' Get someone on the football team to be like, 'I don't know man, two hours later?' The only arguments against it are that it takes effort to change the status quo."

In addition to the research saying letting young people sleep later could be good for them, there's evidence that it actually improves things across the board. According to a report published by the Massachusetts Association of School Committees, Hingham Public Schools moved their start times from 7:20 a.m. to 8 a.m. in 2003 and have seen improvements in both academic performance and attendance since (https://www.masc.org/images/events/2018/summer-institute/MASC_Summer-Institute_2018_School-Start-Times.pdf). Nauset Regional High School in Massachusetts similarly moved its start time, opening at 8:35 a.m. instead of 7:25 a.m., and saw "instantaneous results," according to the report, including fewer failing grades and suspensions. One year after Evergreen School District in Washington state shifted school start times, officials said that it was too early to cite hard data, but that students seemed happier. Of course, not all school districts that push back school start times are thrilled with the change, and some have even reversed the decision to start school later.

But Adam pointed out that there's one thing that's hard to argue with: If making school start later might save lives lost in drowsy driving accidents, why wouldn't everyone be on board?

"This is a personal issue to me," he said. "Students are under so much pressure to achieve academically, achieve in athletics. You have students who are at a school all day and on a sports team. Time is filled up 12 to 16 hours a day and [they're] getting five hours of sleep. That's a recipe for accidents. It's a matter of saving kids' lives."

If you want your school to start later in the morning, Adam suggested some simple advocacy-go in front of the school board and make your case. Adam suggested having a plan for how exactly your school could make this change and bringing data to the table.

"Every school is under pressure to show it has good test scores," he said. "If you can show those results from [a place that's had success], say, 'Look at the difference here.' Who will argue with saving kids' lives and improving test scores?"

If you want to watch Adam ruin more things, tune into the show on Tuesdays at 10 p.m.

Source Citation

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Why Schools Should Start Later and Teens Should Sleep More

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When I was in high school, it took a lot to get me out of bed and into class on time. Countless days, I'd sleep through my alarm, prompting my mom to scream at me from down the hall or my dad to yank the covers off me in a last-ditch attempt to get me to school before the bell.

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C - Published September, 2021
R - The article provides information for both sides of the argument as to if school should start later.
A - The author, Maggie Pierce, is a writer for Scope.
A - Factual evidence is used, and sources are verifiable. Sources include a sleep psychologist.
P - The purpose of the article is to inform, presenting multiple sides of an argument, accompanied with no bias for either side.

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Experts say a later schedule could be good for your health.

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C - Posted 9, June, 2017. Despite the long ago date, I believe it isn't all too important due to how little schools have changed, even in hundreds of years.
R - The video shows one claim, matching mine. It discusses why school should start later, and also specifies teens, which matches my claim better.
A - The TED Talk is given by Wendy Troxel, a sleep researcher.
A - Due to her career, much of the evidence that Troxel gives is highly credible and factual. Her sources aside from herself are easily verifiable.
P - The purpose of the video is to persuade, and then inform. Although the video informs us about how teens sleep, and how much they need, it focuses more on persuading, attempting to convince us why schools should start later.

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Why school should start later for teens | Wendy Troxel