How School Start Time Can Affect Teenagers?
By Zeina Moukarzel
MD-Anesthesiologist, Critical Care Physician, General Physician, Addiction Medicine
Reading Time:
1 minute
A shift in sleep phase occurs normally during adolescence
Since 1990, multiples studies have been conducted to determine whether early school start time has negative outcomes on adolescents. It happens that yes!
Health, well-being, learning and academic performance, mental health and behaviors could be affected by early school start time
Lack of sleeping (less than 8 hours/night) as a consequence of early start time, can have deleterious effects on middle and high-school students, who are more likely to:
- Engage in risky behaviors: smoking, alcohol, drugs
- Feel depressed
- Sleep in class (daytime sleep)
- Get lower grades
- Have car crashes
The time at which sleep occurs could be as well as important as the duration of sleep; however, more studies are needed
At the opposite, late school start time improves their health, well-being and decreases the risk of substance use and other risky behaviors.
