Sleep Deprivation in America's Students Essay

High school students should have a later starting time in school due to students not getting the amount of sleep they need to function. Students that stay up late at night are way too tired to learn when they get to school early in the morning. Most students who do stay up late are unable to sleep due to melatonin not yet being produced. This shows that starting school at a later time would have many positive benefits. These benefits include higher test scores, increased attendance, more participation from students, and higher performance from athletes.

Yet still, parents and students are pushing for later start times in schools to accommodate to the natural schedule. Starting school at 9-10am rather 6-8am would drastically increase a student’s performance in school and would allow for more productivity and higher grades. Proper cognitive function would allow for happier and healthier students and could allow for a more positive social environment in

Unfortunately, many students face the struggle of staying awake in classes and being able to concentrate on what is being taught. The reason for this is many teens are not getting enough sleep at night. The amount of sleep an average individual should be getting each

First of all, schools switching from a 6:30 start to 7:30 A.M. saw a dramatic increase in attendance. An increase in attendance leads to students missing less instruction, and the students can really understand it deeper than when they learn on their own. Additionally, test scores and subject grades also increased. Research by the University of Minnesota’s Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement states, “Researchers analyzed data from more than 9,000 students at eight high schools in Minnesota, Colorado, and Wyoming and found that shifting the school day later in the morning resulted in a boost in attendance, test scores, and grades in math, English, science, and social studies.” A rise in grades helps in the long term. Better grades can, and do, lead to a better GPA, or grade point average. GPA is the average of the letter grades you receive in your classes, on a scale of 0 to 4.0, a four equaling an A, three equaling a B, two equaling a C, and so on. Also, this data shows that test grades were improved, which shows that high school students could get a higher score on the SAT and ACT exams. A combination of a good GPA and SAT or ACT score can ultimately lead to admission in a better college. A better college is vital to a student’s future job, as a better college may increase the job’s quality and pay. A small delay of one or two hours in the morning can potentially affect a

In the article Teachers,Students and Sleep, author Dave Stuart address the effects of different qualities of sleep have on students. Stuart covers the causes for poor sleep and the consequences this can have. The author repeatedly references the work of Harvard graduate Maria Konnikova, along with Shawn Stevenson who has a bachelor's degree, thus they appear to be reliable sources. Stuart cover the negative effects of artificial light close to sleep, and the many positive effects of regularity in other activities on the sleep cycle. Dave Stuart makes his readers reevaluate how important sleep is.

School starting later in the morning has many benefits. One is that all the students could easily get the 8.5- 9.5 hours of sleep the students need each night (“Wake Up Calls”). The odds of them getting that much sleep are much higher if school would start later in the morning. It is proven that students learn better when they are awake and when

In today’s society, many people go through many days yawning, fighting to stay awake and indulging in many cups of coffee. If you were to ask them what the cause of their restlessness was, the popular statement would be a lack of sleep. However, most would not dare to think that a lack of sleep could cause multiple issues in everyday life. This problem has been seen to peak during the good ole college days. It is hard to imagine that those days of all-night cramming sessions and those late nights partying causing students to be sleep deprived could lead to a variety of problems like stress, long term insomnia, and a weakened immune system.

A study proposed that students have a tendency to be more productive in the morning than they are on the afternoon, particularly in math in Time of day and student productivity in middle school and high school by Kelly Peaton and Denise-Marie Ordway. While the author can't state for certain why, he distinguishes three conceivable causes or contributing components: changes in the nature of instruction through the span of the school day, changes in students' learning capacity amid the school day and contrasts in student participation toward the begin and end of the school day. The author expresses that "reworking school calendars can prompt expanded academic performance," yet notes there are imperatives to how much school directors can modify

Long before the sun rises or the moon sets, the morning rituals of high school students across the United States are well underway. Long before the streetlights have turned off, students are walking and driving along the roads to reach their education centers. Long before the bell for second block has rung, many of these same students find themselves dozing off in class. Why are they unable to focus? Are they aware that falling asleep in class is rude? How are so many students this tired? These are all valid questions that teachers and parents alike often ponder to themselves. The answer to these questions, however, lies with one simple word: sleep. It has become

Research has shown that teenagers experience a change in their internal sleep clock therefore, the task of waking up early and going to sleep early are two difficult things for students. Should high school classes begin at a later hour and end later in the day to accommodate students natural sleep clocks? The unanswered question in the school board is causing a lot of commotion throughout the faculty, students, and parents.

Research indicates that America’s sleep problems have increased and might be the number one health problem. The average amount of sleep that people get per night can range anywhere from three to twelve hours. According to Dr. David Dinges at the University of Pennsylvania, it is a fact that people who get fewer than six hours of sleep a night do not live as long as people who get seven hours or more. Most people do not realize the importance of sleep or even realize that it is needed to survive. Many people experience sleep deprivation; however it is commonly seen in college students. Irregular sleeping patterns tend to occur in students, which can later lead to long-term effects.

There are strategies Medina (2014) shares that teachers and administrators can use to assist the owls and larks in the classroom. One of the most logical is for administration to schedule teachers and students to match their chronotype to enhance the productivity of both. Does a school have to start at 8:00 a.m.? It is proven that the sleep hormones are at maximum levels in the human brain as teenagers requiring them to have more sleep, especially in the morning. Starting at 9:00 a.m. may be a good idea. Also, it is recommended that heavy expectations are not given when the C and S curves are flat lined. We provide nap time during elementary early years, but research suggests that high schoolers could use nap time, too. Also, according to Medina (2014), when introducing a new difficult topic, it has been proven that if students are allowed to go home and sleep on it before trying to incorporate the new information, the positive results of “capitulation” can occur resulting in positive “graphing” the following day (p. 43).

Numerous American and German schools that scheduled their class in the afternoon shows the improvement and success in their performance. It also shows reduced the rate of depression. Some schools are force students to function in the day time and many students of universities are prone to a danger of sleep deprivation. Also, it shows that

On some school nights, I have a rough time trying to fall asleep even though I manage to go to bed early. I twist and turn and eventually pass out at one in the morning. Few hours later, I wake up and experience headaches and stress at home, then a difficult time paying attention and processing information in class. All of these factors were resulted by the lack of sleep, or sleep deprivation. Many more harmful problems can result from sleep deprivation, such as sleep disorders, difficulty driving, and physical and mental effects on students. In which case, students wouldn’t want sleep deprivation affecting their academic grades and education in school. Therefore, students in high school should be allowed to sleep for a longer period of

Examining Differences in Academic Performance and Class Start Times between Morning, Day, and Night Classes within WVU university students