To improve kids’ mental health, some schools start later
By BROOKE SCHULTZ Associated Press/Report for America
DREXEL HILL, Pa. (AP) — In the hours before he’s due at Upper Darby High School, senior Khalid Doulat has time to say prayers, help his mother or prepare for track practice.
It’s a welcome shift from last year for him and thousands of students at the school, which pushed its start time back by more than two hours — from a 7:30 a.m. start time to 9:45 a.m. One goal for the change: to ease strains on students that were more visible than ever coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I’ll be honest, I’ve been much happier in the mornings,” Doulat said. “I’ve been more positive, and I’ve come to school smiling more rather than, you know, grudging out of bed and stuff like that at 7:30.”
Matt Slocum – staff, AP
The idea of later school start times, pushed by many over the years as a way to help adolescents get more sleep, is getting a new look as a way to address the mental health crisis affecting teens across the U.S.
For some schools, the pandemic allowed experimentation to try new schedules. Upper Darby, for one, initially considered later start times in 2019. Ultimately, it found a way to do it this year by using distance learning as a component of the school day.
As students first came back to in-person learning, many dealt with mental health struggles and behavioral issues, Upper Darby Superintendent Daniel McGarry said. Officials saw a breakdown in students respecting the authority of teachers in the classroom.
“We had a lot of those things that we were facing and we’re still working our way through it; we’re in a much better place,” McGarry said. “I think our kids feel better. They’re not 100% better.” But, he said, much of the social anxiety students felt after being in online school has dissipated.
During the pandemic, soaring numbers of high school students expressed persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, with girls and LGBTQ+ youth reporting the highest levels of poor mental health and suicide attempts. It doesn’t help that research suggests middle and high school students aren’t getting enough sleep.
“These mental health challenges are already going to happen and then, with the absence of sleep, are much worse,” said Orfeu Buxton, director of the Sleep, Health & Society Collaboratory at Penn State University. “The same with decision making, suicidal ideation, those kinds of things.”
The reasons why high schools start as early as they do — many begin their day before 7:30 a.m. — are “lost to the sands of history,” Buxton said. But now, he said, ”everything is baked into that: traffic light patterns, bus schedules and adults’ work.”
Nationally, at least nine states are considering legislation related to school start times, up from four the previous year, according to the National Conference on State Legislatures. California in 2019 became the first and only state to dictate school start times.
Large school systems including Denver, Philadelphia and Anchorage, Alaska, have been looking into later start times.
It can require innovation to forge a new schedule.
At Upper Darby High, the school day technically still begins at 7:30 a.m., with students assigned coursework to be done remotely that ties into their lessons for the day. But they can use the early morning hours as they see fit — they can meet with teachers during office hours, sleep in or finish other homework. Ultimately, the work assigned for the early morning needs to be done, but when is up to students.
“I think getting more sleep is definitely helping,” Elise Olmstead, a junior. “I would be more irritable throughout the day, especially later, because I have a lot of after-school things. I would just have a harder time getting through the day.”
The school day still ends by 3 p.m.
Fatima Afrani, a freshman, said that when she gets home, she’ll usually relax, then help her mom or do homework.
Matt Slocum – staff, AP
“If I’m tired I go to sleep, which was not something I was able to do last year. Last year I just had to get my homework done because there wasn’t an option of being able to do it later,” she said. “And so I liked that if I was tired, I could listen to my body and just let myself sleep.”
Principal Matthew Alloway said educators have noticed fewer students sleeping in class. The new schedule also has allowed “kids to go to school for exactly what they need,” he said. About 400 of the school’s 4,250 students attend only through virtual learning — an option it offered to compete with online schools.
Critics have argued students have less instruction time in the new schedule. The original 80-minute periods have been shortened, but Alloway said that it’s not as if lectures always took up the full 80 minutes.
“It was sometimes a 60-minute concentrated instructional time. But then there was time to write. There was time to read. There was time to view a video,” he said.
Other challenges wrought by the pandemic — teacher shortages, for one — have also benefitted from the schedule change, administrators said. Teachers can take care of themselves and their families in the morning. Administrators have more time to replace staffers who call out sick.
Doulat, the Upper Darby senior, said that even if students can’t see the effects every day, there’s been a big positive impact.
“It’s such little changes in our daily lives that we don’t notice it,” he added. “But they slowly start building up, and we actually see the difference within our own lives.”
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Brooke Schultz is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
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The Associated Press education team receives support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
How parents can play a key role in prevention, treatment of teen mental health problems
wavebreakmedia // Shutterstock
Every school year, parents and caregivers are once again faced with the age-old struggle of wrangling groggy kids out of bed in the morning. For parents of preteens and teenagers, it can be particularly challenging.
Sometimes this gets chalked up to laziness in teens. But the main reason why a healthy person is unable to wake up naturally without an alarm is that they are not getting the sleep their brain and body need.
But the likelihood that you know a teenager who gets enough sleep is rather slim. In the U.S., less than 30% of high school students—or those in grades 9 through 12—sleep the recommended amount, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Among middle schoolers in grades 6 through 8, nearly 60% do not get enough sleep at night.
Yet my laboratory's research suggests that a much higher percentage of teens are getting too little sleep.
I am a professor of biology and have been studying sleep and circadian rhythms for more than 30 years. For the past seven years, my laboratory at the University of Washington has been doing research on sleep in Seattle-area teenagers. Our research has found that, just as in other areas of the U.S., high schoolers in Seattle are not getting the amount of sleep they need. Our study objectively measured sleep in 182 high school sophomores and seniors and found only two that slept at least nine hours at night during school days.
Every school year, parents and caregivers are once again faced with the age-old struggle of wrangling groggy kids out of bed in the morning. For parents of preteens and teenagers, it can be particularly challenging.
Sometimes this gets chalked up to laziness in teens. But the main reason why a healthy person is unable to wake up naturally without an alarm is that they are not getting the sleep their brain and body need.
But the likelihood that you know a teenager who gets enough sleep is rather slim. In the U.S., less than 30% of high school students—or those in grades 9 through 12—sleep the recommended amount, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Among middle schoolers in grades 6 through 8, nearly 60% do not get enough sleep at night.
Yet my laboratory's research suggests that a much higher percentage of teens are getting too little sleep.
I am a professor of biology and have been studying sleep and circadian rhythms for more than 30 years. For the past seven years, my laboratory at the University of Washington has been doing research on sleep in Seattle-area teenagers. Our research has found that, just as in other areas of the U.S., high schoolers in Seattle are not getting the amount of sleep they need. Our study objectively measured sleep in 182 high school sophomores and seniors and found only two that slept at least nine hours at night during school days.
How parents can play a key role in prevention, treatment of teen mental health problems
Canva
The time people go to bed, fall asleep, and wake up is governed by two main factors in the brain. The first is a so-called "wakefulness tracker," a physiological timer that increases our need to sleep the longer we stay awake. This is in part the consequence of the accumulation of chemical signals released by neurons, such as adenosine.
Adenosine accumulates in the brain when we are awake, leading to increased sleepiness as the day wears on. If, for instance, a person wakes up at 7 a.m., these chemical signals will accumulate throughout the day until the levels are high enough that the person will fall asleep, typically in the late evening.
The second factor that drives the sleep/wake cycle is a 24-hour biological clock that tells our brain what times of the day we should be awake and what times we should be sleeping. This biological clock is located in an area of the brain called the hypothalamus. The clock is composed of neurons that coordinate the brain areas regulating sleep and wakefulness to a 24-hour sleep/wake cycle.
These two regulators operate with relative independence from each other. But under typical conditions, they are coordinated so that a person with access to electric-powered light would fall asleep in the late evening—between about 10-11 p.m.—and wake up in the early morning, around 6-7 a.m.
So why do teenagers often want to go to bed later and wake up later than their parents?
It turns out that during adolescence, the wakefulness tracker and biological clock conspire to delay the timing of sleep. First, adolescents can be awake until later hours before their wakefulness tracker makes them feel sleepy enough to fall asleep.
Second, the biological clock of teenagers is delayed because in some cases it appears to run at a slower pace and because it responds differently to light cues that reset the clock daily. This combination leads to a sleep cycle that operates a couple of hours later than in an older adult: If an older adult feels the signals to fall asleep around 10-11 p.m., this won't happen until midnight or later in a teenager.
Canva
The time people go to bed, fall asleep, and wake up is governed by two main factors in the brain. The first is a so-called "wakefulness tracker," a physiological timer that increases our need to sleep the longer we stay awake. This is in part the consequence of the accumulation of chemical signals released by neurons, such as adenosine.
Adenosine accumulates in the brain when we are awake, leading to increased sleepiness as the day wears on. If, for instance, a person wakes up at 7 a.m., these chemical signals will accumulate throughout the day until the levels are high enough that the person will fall asleep, typically in the late evening.
The second factor that drives the sleep/wake cycle is a 24-hour biological clock that tells our brain what times of the day we should be awake and what times we should be sleeping. This biological clock is located in an area of the brain called the hypothalamus. The clock is composed of neurons that coordinate the brain areas regulating sleep and wakefulness to a 24-hour sleep/wake cycle.
These two regulators operate with relative independence from each other. But under typical conditions, they are coordinated so that a person with access to electric-powered light would fall asleep in the late evening—between about 10-11 p.m.—and wake up in the early morning, around 6-7 a.m.
So why do teenagers often want to go to bed later and wake up later than their parents?
It turns out that during adolescence, the wakefulness tracker and biological clock conspire to delay the timing of sleep. First, adolescents can be awake until later hours before their wakefulness tracker makes them feel sleepy enough to fall asleep.
Second, the biological clock of teenagers is delayed because in some cases it appears to run at a slower pace and because it responds differently to light cues that reset the clock daily. This combination leads to a sleep cycle that operates a couple of hours later than in an older adult: If an older adult feels the signals to fall asleep around 10-11 p.m., this won't happen until midnight or later in a teenager.
Based on the recommendation of sleep experts, the Seattle school district, beginning with the 2016-2017 school year, delayed middle school and high school start times by nearly an hour, from 7:50- a.m. to 8:45 a.m. In a study our team conducted after the district enacted the plan, we found that students gained 34 minutes of daily sleep: a huge gain by sleep medicine standards. In addition, student attendance and punctuality improved, and median grades went up by 4.5%.
Despite an abundance of research evidence and advice from virtually all sleep experts in the country, most school districts are still stuck with school start times that promote chronic sleep deprivation in teenagers. The early school starts are further aggravated by daylight saving time – when clocks are set one hour ahead in the springtime. This time shift – one that could become permanent in the U.S. in 2023 – exposes teenagers to artificially dark mornings, which exacerbates their naturally delayed sleep timing.
Based on the recommendation of sleep experts, the Seattle school district, beginning with the 2016-2017 school year, delayed middle school and high school start times by nearly an hour, from 7:50- a.m. to 8:45 a.m. In a study our team conducted after the district enacted the plan, we found that students gained 34 minutes of daily sleep: a huge gain by sleep medicine standards. In addition, student attendance and punctuality improved, and median grades went up by 4.5%.
Despite an abundance of research evidence and advice from virtually all sleep experts in the country, most school districts are still stuck with school start times that promote chronic sleep deprivation in teenagers. The early school starts are further aggravated by daylight saving time – when clocks are set one hour ahead in the springtime. This time shift – one that could become permanent in the U.S. in 2023 – exposes teenagers to artificially dark mornings, which exacerbates their naturally delayed sleep timing.
How parents can play a key role in prevention, treatment of teen mental health problems
Me dia // Shutterstock
School start times aside, kids also need to learn the importance of healthy habits that promote sufficient sleep.
Getting bright daylight exposure, particularly during the morning, pushes our biological clock to an earlier time. This, in turn, will promote an earlier bedtime and a natural early morning wake time.
In contrast, light in the evening – including the light emitted by screens – is highly stimulating to the brain. It inhibits the production of natural signals such as melatonin, a hormone that is produced by the brain's pineal gland as the night arrives and in response to darkness. But when these cues are inhibited by artificial light in the evening, our biological clocks are delayed, promoting a later bedtime and a later morning wake time. And thus the cycle of having to rouse a sleepy, yawning teenager from bed for school begins again.
Yet few schools teach the importance of good daily routines and sleep timing, and parents and teens also do not fully appreciate their importance. Chronic sleep deprivation disrupts every physiological process in the body and has been consistently linked to disease, including depression and anxiety, obesity, and addictive behavior.
This story originally appeared on The Conversation and has been independently reviewed to meet journalistic standards.Â
Me dia // Shutterstock
School start times aside, kids also need to learn the importance of healthy habits that promote sufficient sleep.
Getting bright daylight exposure, particularly during the morning, pushes our biological clock to an earlier time. This, in turn, will promote an earlier bedtime and a natural early morning wake time.
In contrast, light in the evening – including the light emitted by screens – is highly stimulating to the brain. It inhibits the production of natural signals such as melatonin, a hormone that is produced by the brain's pineal gland as the night arrives and in response to darkness. But when these cues are inhibited by artificial light in the evening, our biological clocks are delayed, promoting a later bedtime and a later morning wake time. And thus the cycle of having to rouse a sleepy, yawning teenager from bed for school begins again.
Yet few schools teach the importance of good daily routines and sleep timing, and parents and teens also do not fully appreciate their importance. Chronic sleep deprivation disrupts every physiological process in the body and has been consistently linked to disease, including depression and anxiety, obesity, and addictive behavior.
wavebreakmedia // Shutterstock