My teenage daughter had to wake up especially early before school one day recently. As she yawned at the breakfast table and shuffled to put on her coat and shoes, we both noticed the high school bus –– the same bus she’ll be taking to school next year –– pulling up at our stop at 6:50 a.m.
“Does this mean I’ll be waking up this early every day next year?” she asked. We both gulped.
Vice President Joe Biden took an ill-timed nap recently during the president’s budget speech, and air traffic controllers who snoozed in their booths have made headlines. Medical errors, traffic crashes, mistakes at work –– all can be attributed to sleepiness. For many adults, even though we’ve seen the studies about health benefits, the reality of a too-long to-do list, or a young family, or insomnia can make getting enough sleep impossible.
But for teenagers, the science shows that it’s not as easy for them to just turn in a little earlier to make up for a tired stretch. They aren’t just being difficult when they refuse to go to bed at 9 p.m. or have trouble waking up extremely early.
Studies have shown that teens’ circadian rhythms actually change when they hit puberty. Their internal clock tells them to start feeling sleepy at 11 p.m., or even later. Research also shows teens need about nine hours of sleep to be alert during the day.
That biology doesn’t mesh too well with most high school’s early start times.
Most of the nation’s high schools start between 7 and 7:30 a.m., meaning a teen who turns in at 10:30 p.m. can’t get a full night’s sleep. More than 90 percent of teens in a recent study reported sleeping less than the recommended nine hours a night, and 10 percent said they sleep less than six hours a night.
From a parent’s standpoint, the benefits of more sleep are obvious –– a happier, less cranky teen who is more alert during their school day. But there could be larger benefits as well: a recent study that compared districts with different start times found that the school with the later start time had far fewer car crashes.
In recent years, there have been reports of districts changing their start times to allow teens to come to school a little later. According to the National Sleep Foundation, individual schools or districts in 19 states have pushed back their start times, and more than 100 school districts in 17 additional states are considering delaying start times. And in those schools in Minnesota and Kentucky that changed more than a decade ago, researchers have found less tardiness, increased attendance and fewer students seeking help for stress relief.
As anyone who has seen a district’s bus fleet pull off its perfectly timed routes for school knows, it’s not an easy logistical change. And as a society, we’ve become accustomed to teens leaving school before 3 p.m., allowing those hours for sports, after-school jobs and homework.
At a glance, the easiest solution seems to be to switch elementary and high school start times. Elementary students’ bodies don’t have the same challenges that teenagers do –– they can actually function early in the morning and go to bed early.
But most people seem to accept early start times as just the way it is, and it’s unlikely that there will be a widespread movement to allow our tired teens to sleep in a little. Barring a later start to the day, there are some things families can do to help tired teens turn in a little sooner.
The Mayo Clinic’s website recommends some different strategies: Dim lights close to bedtime and expose teens to bright light when they wake up; try to stick to a schedule, even on weekends; avoid long naps and caffeine; and wind down at night with a shower or book. Music, text messaging, TV, and computer time should be curbed close to bedtime.
For my daughter, high school is going to be a time for adjustment –– new friends, new classes, new expectations. She’d better get used to the idea of tackling all of those with an alarm clock set too early.
