Not many schools have adopted later start times for schools, despite overwhelming scientific evidence that it’s better for students. Stock.adobe.com photo by Have A Nice Day .
Only 22.5% of Maryland’s high school students and 49.4% of middle school students surveyed for the 2022-2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey self-reported sleeping eight hours or more on a school night, when they need closer to nine to 10 hours of sleep. A major factor in this chronic sleep deprivation is the well-documented biological shift in adolescent sleep cycles, resulting in falling asleep later and waking up later than adults and younger siblings.
As a result, teenagers’ sleep-wake schedules are misaligned with school district imposed early school bell times (and commutes). Chronic sleep deprivation and misaligned sleep-wake schedules (known as social jet lag) negatively impact student physical and mental health, decision making, safety, attendance and graduation rates…