Why Later Is Better

Why Later is Better In life, problems are presented every day; what should be done about the national debt, what should be done about North Korea spinning out of control? These problems typically all have a simple to complex answer. Whether the answer is easy or difficult; research is compiled and shows the positives and negatives leaving an answer to the problem. Likewise, it is no different with the question should high schools be starting later? Students are what fuel high schools, but high schools are taking the fuel from the kids. A whopping ninety percent of high school students are sleep deprived in the US (National Sleep Foundation, n.pg.). Sleep deprivation has a significant amounts of negative side effects that affect student health.
Parents of high schoolers say that a later start time would mess with their work schedules; complaining that they would then not be able to leave for work for another hour. High schoolers range from fourteen to eighteen years old, and therefore should be able to stay home an hour without their parents. Coaches and leaders of groups say that it affects extracurricular activities. Even though there would have to be changes to extracurricular activities times, nothing should come before student health, and well being. When a student is sleep deprived they do not perform nearly close to their full potential, and thus not even satisfying their after school
Although most people think of sleep as a luxury, “Research shows that getting enough sleep is a biological necessity … teens need on average 9 ¼ hours of sleep” (National Sleep Foundation n.pg.). If sleep is a biological necessity that only about ten percent of students are getting, the other ninety percent will have an “increased risk of diabetes, obesity, depression, altered hormones levels and high blood pressure” (Morgan, n.pg.). These are health problems that could affect a student for their entire life, when all that is needed to be changed is a hour later start time. It is also not the students fault that they are not receiving enough sleep. Even if pupils try to go to bed on time their rapid changing bodies hold them back. Valerie Starauss, from the Washington Post, writes about why schools should not start until at least after 8:30 because “adolescents have unique sleep rhythms that make it harder to go to sleep and wake up early” (n.pg.). Mr. Strauss goes on to talk about teens’ brains and how they do not tend to go to bed until eleven p.m. even if the student is in bed hours before that. The National Sleep Foundation backs up Mr. Stauss with a study done at Brown Univeristy talking about the melatonin levels in teens brains. The National Sleep Foundation states “melatonin secretions occurs at a later time in