Study: US Teens Need More Sleep, Begin School Too Early

By R. Siva Kumar - 08 Aug '15 14:22PM

United States teenagers begin their school too soon. They do not get the sleep they need to concentrate and remain healthy, said a recent study published Thursday, according to ctvnews.

Less than one in five middle and high schools in the United States follow the recommendations of starting at 8:30 am or later, shows data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The new data has been collected from a survey of about 40,000 middle, high, and combined public schools in the U.S. during 2011-12, according to time. The survey showed that in 42 states, 75% to 100% of public schools started before 8:30 a.m. The average school start time is 8:03 a.m. Louisiana had the earliest start time at 7:40 a.m., and Alaska had the latest start time at 8:33 a.m.

As teenagers are hardwired to stay asleep longer than adults, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, those who are starved of such sleep could show declining academic performances, CDC said in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The students might also suffer outside the classroom.

"Getting enough sleep is important for students' health, safety, and academic performance," said Anne Wheaton, lead author and epidemiologist in CDC's Division of Population Health. "Early school start times, however, are preventing many adolescents from getting the sleep they need."

An estimated two out of three U.S. students are sleep-deprived, according to the 2013 CDC study.

It was in 2014 that the AAP asked secondary schools not to begin classes until 8:30 am so that teenagers could get 8.5 to 9.5 hours of sleep. However, just 17.7 per cent of U.S. high schools follow the rule.

"Insufficient sleep is common among high school students and is associated with several health risks such as being overweight, drinking alcohol, smoking tobacco and using drugs," the CDC study found.

However, school administrators have often argued that pushing their start hours later would make it difficult to organise after-school extra-curricular activities.