Students in the United States are looking more and more exhausted throughout the school year. Sleep deprivation is a common problem for teens, due to starting school so early, the work load, and other responsibilities.  The school system, with its academic demands and starting times is working students to death. Many students in high school end up less and less alert every day.

The normal time that school starts is 7:30 am-8:30 am.  Many students do not get enough sleep due to homework, projects, and sports.  In high school some students have the ability to drive and many accidents are caused because of how tired they are. According to “Sleep Education for School” by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, many teens die behind the wheel because of drowsiness. Teens need at least nine hours of sleep, but many only get six hours or less for another school day.

According this article,  “surveys show that most teens are getting less than eight hours of sleep on school nights. Some are extreme night owls who sleep for only five or six hours before starting another school day.  This means that the average high school student misses about one to three hours of sleep on school nights.  The result is a weekly sleep debt of five to 15 hours.”

Therefore, this means teens sleep in later on weekends trying to get caught up, but this only disrupts their body clock.  Some teens find it hard to fall asleep at night because of the constant changes in their sleep patterns during the week.

Teachers are giving more and more work, stressing students out! Youth is not about having to do work, but also having time to yourself. Students need time to find themselves and understand things that interest them.  Many times students are working at a job too.  This cuts into studying time as well.  Also, most of the time, students don’t even have time to spend with their families.

Starting the school day later would help with this sleep deprivation issue.  If schools were to change the start time, it would allow the students to sleep better and be more alert for each school day.

Another solution to help sleepy teens would be to reduce the school work and to allow school to start at a reasonable time for the students to get their rest.  Don’t you agree?