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posted by chromas on Tuesday September 25 2018, @05:12AM   Printer-friendly
from the http://i.imgur.com/z4z67Ur.gif dept.

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.


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  • (Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Tuesday September 25 2018, @08:46AM (4 children)

    by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Tuesday September 25 2018, @08:46AM (#739598) Homepage Journal

    How does somebody that's sleeping 12 and 14 hours a day compete with someone that's sleeping three or four? I'm working long hours. Long hours, right up til twelve o'clock, one in the morning. I like three hours, four hours of sleep, I toss, I turn. And I get up at five. I beep-de-beep, I want to find out what’s going on. I eat, I read the papers, I see what's going on on TV.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 25 2018, @10:33AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 25 2018, @10:33AM (#739608)

    I eat, I read the papers, I see what's going on on TV

    Hey, 4 hours of doing nothing. At least I sleep them.

  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by messymerry on Tuesday September 25 2018, @11:18AM (1 child)

    by messymerry (6369) on Tuesday September 25 2018, @11:18AM (#739615)

    I do this too, butt, I take naps...quite a lot. I like doing two sleep periods on a daily basis. Not enough is said about the virtues of napping. Mesi Meri (messymerry) is the Greek equivalent of siesta or naptime.

    Everybody should look for a way to add a daily nap to their schedule...

    --
    Only fools equate a PhD with a Swiss Army Knife...
    • (Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday September 25 2018, @01:08PM

      by Gaaark (41) on Tuesday September 25 2018, @01:08PM (#739652) Journal

      MessyJoes (messiegios) is good too, I hear.

      Nice atmosphere, bit of an edge.

      --
      --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
  • (Score: 1) by oldmac31310 on Tuesday September 25 2018, @07:11PM

    by oldmac31310 (4521) on Tuesday September 25 2018, @07:11PM (#739820)

    You read? I think not.