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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: 3, Informative) by lgw on Tuesday September 25 2018, @05:49PM

    by lgw (2836) on Tuesday September 25 2018, @05:49PM (#739782)

    Why is it so hard to go to bed earlier in order to get the recommended amount of sleep?

    If you find that "going to bed early" works for you at all, then congrats, you are a morning person. That's pretty much the definition.

    Night owls, on the other hand, don't get sleepy in the evening, and laying in bed accomplishes nothing.

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