The SLOHS clock tower looms above as students are in first period early in the morning. Photo courtesy of sophomore Addison Hopple.
The regular San Luis Obispo High School schedule starts at 8:30 a.m. and ends at 3:40 p.m. But throughout the day, students are usually groggy from the previous night, filled with homework and extracurricular activities, which leads students to not get enough sleep.
On average, the majority of teens do not get the recommended eight to ten hours of sleep, and because of early start times, teens aren’t usually able to function at their highest level.
“If school could start later, I feel like students could have time to sleep in, and overall can help benefit their own physical and emotional health, and me personally. If school could start later, then I could have time to sleep in and not have to feel drained at school,” said sophomore Kandon Sullivan.
Sleep deprivation can lead to all sorts of unusual behavior that someone might think is a regular teen response. Sleep deprivation causes troubles with emotional health, like irritability and mood swings. Not just this, but also poor academic performance and falling grades.
“I would want the school to start later because I feel like when I get home from practice, I don’t have much time to do homework and stuff, and especially when I have to study for tests, I end up staying up really late, so I’m really tired in the morning and it’s hard to not sleep longer,” said sophomore Luca Bellisario.
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends that teenagers, ages thirteen to eighteen, regularly sleep eight to ten hours per night for good health. Students without enough sleep are more likely to suffer from symptoms of depression, perform poorly in school, and not engage in daily physical activity.
“Throughout the school day, I feel like I am just super tired, and not able to focus much, especially during first period and the last two periods of the day because I’m just waiting to get out of class so I can go to practice and then go home, so it all just gets tiring and it’s a lot sometimes,” said sophomore Ella Gaedeke.
Though many studies have shown that students will benefit from later start times, there are worries that later start times will create new challenges such as families after school and morning schedules, as it could disrupt a parent’s work schedule and a student’s extracurricular activities. These problems can cause disruptions that are solvable and can be addressed.
Most adolescents may need at least nine hours of sleep per night; however, fewer than eight percent of high school students report getting this amount. Less than a third of students report eight or more hours of sleep, and this proportion decreases as school grade level increases, so that fewer than a quarter of high school seniors get this amount.
Adjusting school start time even a little bit could save high school students sleep after long exhausting days. Allowing students to perform better inside and outside of the classroom.
Sources: nea.org, apa.org, pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov