The school schedule is not equipped for teenage brains. Teenage brains and sleep patterns are different from adult and younger children, so getting up early is harder for them. It is especially harder now because of the new bell schedule starting at 7:50 a.m.

The reason teenagers have trouble getting up in the morning is because of the hormone melatonin. It does not activate in an adolescent brain until around 10:45 p.m., and it stops around 8 a.m. The average healthy amount of sleep that students should be getting is 8-10 hours a night. If one were to go to bed at 11 p.m. and wake up at 6 a.m., that would only be seven hours of sleep. And many teens go to bed later than that. Teenage brains are simply not meant to be awake for school at 7 a.m.

It’s not as simple as just getting off screens and going to bed. The sleep/wake patterns of teenagers are beyond their control. When melatonin secretion starts, it is easier for teens to go to bed, and when it stops it’s easier for them to wake up. The reason adults are able to go to sleep and wake up earlier is because when puberty is over, they will go back to their genetically preferred sleep/wake timing. 

Sleep deprivation is a big issue with teenagers.The chance of depression in teens rises with less than 9 hours of sleep. If students are sleep deprived, they are more likely to get into car crashes, and use drugs, cigarettes, and alcohol. 

Adolescence is a time where brains are developing. Teenagers spend their day building new connections through socialization and learning. When teens go to sleep, the waste products that accumulate through the day through those connections get removed from the brain, and new neural connections are improved. That is why students who do not get the proper amount of sleep could develop depression and have trouble learning and paying attention because they aren’t getting rid of the waste products properly, and their neural connections aren’t improving as they should.

There are benefits of a later start time. Students could get more sleep, their mood would increase, and their academic performance would go up as well. Car crash rates would go down, as well as drug, alcohol, and cigarette use. Students would be awake for their first hour class, and absence and tardiness would decrease. 

In having a later start time, there would be some factors to consider like transportation, and what to do about sports practice, but ultimately the benefits for the students are worth it.