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They need a solid 6-8 hours of sleep, like other humans. I suspect the problem is that teens just stay awake FAR LONGER than is advisable perhaps to maximize t

They need a solid 6-8 hours of sleep, like other humans. I suspect the problem is that teens just stay awake FAR LONGER than is advisable perhaps to maximize their free unstructured time at night and to minimize the crushing grind of the mornings? I expect that if the school start time was shifted to 9am, the kids would just stay up until 5AM instead of only 3AM.

krylon 9y ago
There may be something to it. At least, when I was young, I could accumulate a lot more sleep-debt before there were consequences. These days (I am 37 now), when I go to bed an hour later than usual, I will feel it all day. Might not be a huge deal, but I notice it.
GuiA 9y ago
Most adults need 6-8 hours of sleep. Kids need more than that. https://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Childrenssleep/Pages/howmuchsleep.aspx https://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Childrenssleep/Pages/howmuchslee...
wishinghand 9y ago
For some reason the sleep pattern changes for adolescents. Now that I'm in my 30s, waking up early is no big deal, but waking up before 8 was a huge struggle and I was always an advocate of 8 hours of sleep for myself. Here's a summary of the issue: https://sleepfoundation.org/sleep-news/school-start-time-and-sleep https://sleepfoundation.org/sleep-news/school-start-time-and...
lazyasciiart 9y ago
Most teenagers aren't staying awake til 3am, it turns out. And you can test your theory in several ways - either by checking American teenager sleep habits against those in other countries where school does start later (e.g Australia - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2941425/figure/F2/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2941425/figure/...), or by looking for the existing studies that have been done on changing school times (e.g this one in Norway https://teensneedsleep.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/school-start-time-sleepiness-and-functioning-in-norwegian-adolescents.pdf https://teensneedsleep.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/school-st...) Summary: your theory doesn't appear to be supported by data.

krylon 9y ago

There may be something to it. At least, when I was young, I could accumulate a lot more sleep-debt before there were consequences. These days (I am 37 now), when I go to bed an hour later than usual, I will feel it all day. Might not be a huge deal, but I notice it.

GuiA 9y ago

Most adults need 6-8 hours of sleep. Kids need more than that. https://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Childrenssleep/Pages/howmuchsleep.aspx https://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Childrenssleep/Pages/howmuchslee...

wishinghand 9y ago

For some reason the sleep pattern changes for adolescents. Now that I'm in my 30s, waking up early is no big deal, but waking up before 8 was a huge struggle and I was always an advocate of 8 hours of sleep for myself. Here's a summary of the issue: https://sleepfoundation.org/sleep-news/school-start-time-and-sleep https://sleepfoundation.org/sleep-news/school-start-time-and...

lazyasciiart 9y ago

Most teenagers aren't staying awake til 3am, it turns out. And you can test your theory in several ways - either by checking American teenager sleep habits against those in other countries where school does start later (e.g Australia - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2941425/figure/F2/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2941425/figure/...), or by looking for the existing studies that have been done on changing school times (e.g this one in Norway https://teensneedsleep.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/school-start-time-sleepiness-and-functioning-in-norwegian-adolescents.pdf https://teensneedsleep.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/school-st...) Summary: your theory doesn't appear to be supported by data.