If you’re walking down the hallways of St.Francis High School during first and second hour, how many kids do you see with their heads down, or totally not engaged with the class? In order to be alert for a 7:25 AM school start, teenagers should fall asleep by 9 PM,according to sleepfoundation.org.
Certainly, there are students who are always 100% ready to go at 7:25, but just think how many more students would be alert and ready to go if school start a whole hour later.
At St. Francis, I think we need to have a later start at this High School for many reasons. Sleep can really affect your ability to learn, motivation, decision making and your performance in class and in other school activities.
Having a the right amount of sleep is very important. It affects your ability to learn greatly. Students from their puberty age until late teen years are suppose to have 9 hours of sleep every night. Most teens don’t get the right amount of sleep due to their homework load and after school activities. For example, if someone had a soccer game one night and only got 7 hours of sleep that night, sitting through a whole school day and participate a lot during class and expecting someone to play a game with 110 % effort isn’t easy.
Studies by researcher Kayla Whalstrom from the Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement (CAREI) have shown students are not able to fall asleep much before 11 p.m. and their brains will remain in sleep mode until about 8 a.m; regardless of what time they go to bed. That causes students to sleep at least through first hour if not second hour as well. which results in lack of their ability to learn and their performance during class.
Teens who lack of sleep are more likely to experience symptoms such as depression, difficulty having good relationships with peers and parents, and are more likely to use alcohol and other drugs. Studies have shown that alcohol use is more prevalent among people who sleep poorly because people think it causes awaken ness
Overall, lack of sleep plays games with your brain and causes can cause you to make careless decisions. It kills your motivation and your ability to focus and learn greatly. It also negatively affects your performance in class in after school activities.