The start times to high school have been controversial for a long time. Many high schools operate on early start times, which typically interferes with the demands on health and teenagers’ sleeping schedules. Ideas regarding starting school at night have formed in attempts to bring solutions to sleep deprivation and the productivity of a student.

In recent years of education, research has shown that the amount of time students sleep on school nights has significantly decreased. According to Nationwide Children’s Organization, teenagers on average have been getting 7-7 ¼ hours of sleep at night, when realistically they need around nine hours each night. The decline in the natural sleeping hours has been from the early start time of school, where they are forced to change their sleep schedules to get up on time. The shift in circadian rhythms is a natural process that occurs in a 24-hour cycle that carries out bodily functions. After hitting puberty, it’s harder for many teenagers to fall asleep before 11 p.m., on top of the stress of school affecting sleeping habits. In turn, many students find it difficult to wake up early enough for a start time of around 7-8 a.m., finding themselves exhausted throughout the day, leading to subpar performance and difficulty to focus.

With a later start time, students will be able to come home and have more time to rest from the high-stress demands of school. Allowing them to get a satisfactory amount of sleep to improve their health. Getting the optimal amount of sleep will enable students to improve their immune systems and decrease problems related to stress, like anxiety. These students will also have more free time to do the things they like outside of school and also build their social lives while having time to spend with their friends and family.

Although changing school hours to the nighttime seems completely ideal, it does interfere with many other factors. The rise to the idea of transportation difficulties and how extracurricular activities, like sports, will be run can be challenged. Sports will either have to be done at night or changed during the day, where these schedules will be changed. Parents and educators may also have to change their schedules to make sure students are attending classes. However, if these efforts are changed, a newer schedule can seem more fair to the students.

As the changes seem hard, they seem necessary to ensure that students can get the most out of school. Increasingly more people will have to change their work schedules as well to help guarantee this successful change. Education is important, and it can only be helpful as long as it is for students’ benefit. As long as the resources are provided for schools to gradually operate at later start times, students will be able to be more prepared and productive in class environments.