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Opinion | Let Teenagers Sleep In
Three out of every four students in grades 9 to 12 fail to sleep the minimum of eight hours that the American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends for their age group. And sleep deprivation is unremittingly bad news. Anyone who talks about sleep as if it's some kind of inconvenience and getting less of it is a virtue should be challenged. These people are dangerous.
At its most basic, insufficient sleep results in reduced attention and impaired memory, hindering student progress and lowering grades. More alarmingly, sleep deprivation is likely to lead to mood and emotional problems, increasing the risk of mental illness. Chronic sleep deprivation is also a major risk factor for obesity, Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease and cancer. As if this weren't enough, it also makes falling asleep at the wheel much more likely.
In 2014, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended that middle and high schools start no earlier than 8:30 a.m., a policy now backed by the American Medical Association, the C.D.C. and many other health organizations.
[...] Whenever schools have managed the transition to a later start time, students get more sleep, attendance goes up, grades improve and there is a significant reduction in car accidents. The RAND Corporation estimated that opening school doors after 8:30 a.m. would contribute at least $83 billion to the national economy within a decade through improved educational outcomes and reduced car crash rates. The Brookings Institution calculates that later school start times would lead to an average increase in lifetime earnings of $17,500.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 25 2018, @05:18AM (2 children)
... account for 1/3 of all traffic-related deaths.
I wonder what that vast majority, 2/3, are caused by?
I'll note that drunk drivers crash because they fall asleep at the wheel.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 25 2018, @06:32AM
Inattentiveness and speeding?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by theluggage on Tuesday September 25 2018, @11:06AM
1/3 are, as you say, caused by alcohol.
1/3 are caused by illegal drugs
1/3 are caused by tiredness
1/3 are caused by speeding
1/3 are caused by driving too close
1/3 are caused by using mobile phones
1/3 are caused by bad eyesight
1/3 are caused by reckless pedestrians, cyclists etc.
1/3 are caused by the tendency of all human beings to have occasional brain-farts and just not notice things
1/3 are caused by systemd.
1/3 are caused by doing (something I don't approve of) based on (my confirmation bias)
2.9/3 are caused by a transport system that relies on everybody driving their own spottily-maintained metal boxes at high speed along roads crowded with other vehicles and pedestrians, with minimal training, while also trying to get on with the rest of their life. (Even busses would probably be safer if the drivers weren't desperately trying to make up for delays caused by congestion).
Traffic deaths are so bad that 100% isn't big enough to describe them all...
(Seriously, folks, driving while drunk - or asleep - is bad and people should be punished for it - but that doesn't mean that everything that goes wrong has exactly one cause).