Majority of teens do not get the 8-10 hrs of sleep that professionals recommend

Many professionals believe that having school start later, up to an hour, can help students reach the 8-10 hours of sleep

By having school start school start at 7:30 am, you are requesting that teenagers are alert, awake, and ready to learn at 7:30 am is like asking an adult to be up and alert at 5:30 am according to Horacio de la Iglesia

"Sleep is a key ingredient in physical and mental health, and most adolescents aren’t getting enough" -American Psychological Association

According to data from the CDC National Youth Risk Behavior Surveys, between 2009 and 2021, the percent of high school students that didn't get enough sleep increased from 69% to 77%. 70% of 9th graders and 83.5 % of 12th graders did not get enough sleep in 2021.

Due to a shift that teens undergo in their circadian clocks, it makes it harder for them to fall asleep at night, but also sleep in later in the morning.

Especially after COVID, schools have had to deal with mental and academic fallout. This has lead to many schools rethinking homework, tech, and the length of the school day and the weekend.

One aspect of this that has really gotten popular is later start times.

California became the first state to require schools to start later in 2022. Middle schools and high schools could not start earlier than 8 and 8:30 am.

More than 500 different school districts in the US have moved their start times later in response to research in the past 25 years says Kyla Wahlstrom, an educational policy researcher at the University of Minnesota

when there are later start times, it can clash with after school activities students may have, like sports

It can also be a struggle for families to redo their schedule to be able to fit in dropping their children off at school. Especially for lower income parents with less flexible jobs, it may be difficult to deal with getting their children to school

A meta-analysis found that students that started school between 8:30-8:59 am had more sleep, less negative moods, and "better developmental outcomes including socioemotional health, cognitive development, behavioral health, and physical health"

By pushing back the start time, teachers are also able to sleep more, “The high school teachers said this profoundly changed their lives, allowing them to be a more effective teacher,” Wahlstrom said.

On average high schools start their day at 8 am, however 42 percent of schools start earlier, with 10% starting before 730