Blogger 3: I found this article really interesting, because it is very prevalent in society and teenagers today. Most teenagers, myself included, get an average of 5 to 7 hours of sleep each night. Although this is enough to get us through the day, there has been research indicating that adolescents need between 8.5 and 9.5 hours of sleep to function well. One way to give students the opportunity to sleep longer is by changing to start time of school, and just one extra hour of sleep can make such a huge difference in the performance of students during school and at after school activities. I know that personally I would benefit greatly if the time was changed. During midterm week when I get that extra 45 minutes of sleep I feel so much better (and happier) when I wake up. Not only does this extra sleeping time allow me to start my day on a good note, but it would also allow me to not freak out if I stay up later than usual to finish a project, write a paper or study for a test. Do you think an extra hour of sleep could help benefit students in their daily school/ activities? Or would rather have that extra hour after school to do your homework and study? Is there a way that we could get students to go to bed earlier to gain that extra hour of sleep instead of going into school an hour later? Do you think the view on this topic depends on whether you are a “morning” or “night” person?
and Mariel’s is Blogger 4.
I personally don’t get the suggested and needed amount of sleep each night, but partly because of my own fault. I agree with Nicole in the way I feel that the extra hour of sleep helps during midterms, but we also got out earlier and it’s not a normal schedule so I don’t know if having that extra hour to sleep the whole year would be the same. Like the article states, I think it would definitely mess up the whole schedule we are used to. It would effects parents work schedule, after school activities, jobs etc. If school start time changes then I think job times and shifts would have to change affecting everyone and everything in this world. I think that waking up later would leave more students going to bed later, etc. I think stricter parenting would make students go to bed earlier than they usually do. I personally don’t think school starting later would help me. I am pretty good waking up in the morning even if I go to sleep late. I think I just have to take advantage of my time more wisely and just go to sleep earlier.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I think we'd all love to have an extra hour of sleep each night, I don't think that starting school at a later time is the best idea. From personal experience, I know that when I get to wake up later the next morning, I end up going to bed later that night anyway. I feel that there is no real solution to this problem; there simply aren't enough hours in the day for our extremely busy schedules. I am definitely not a morning person, and I would prefer to wake up later; however, I really don't see this as being practical. Making school start one hour later means that everything else, such as after-school jobs, extra-curriculars, and sporting events would also have to occur one hour later than usual.
ReplyDeleteThis idea is also a huge inconvenience for working parents whose children don't have busing and must be driven to school. How can a parent drop their child at school off yet still be at work on time? My mother had to drive me to school for my first three years at IHA, and I know that even if school started an hour later, I would still have to be dropped off at the same time due to her work schedule. Therefore, in many instances, students would not be getting the extra hour of sleep anyway.
Finally, I feel that starting school at a later time encourages students to procrastinate and rush to complete assignments the morning they are due. Thinking that they have extra time in the morning, a student may ignore the potentially large amount of work that needs to be completed, leading to stress and nervous breakdowns. I think the only real solutions to sleep deprivation are to learn to manage time more wisely, avoid procrastination by staying off Faceboook until homework is completed, and get to sleep as early as possible.
After going to bed at 1:30 last night (well technically this morning) and waking up at 6:15, I can safely say I don't get enough sleep. But, I don't think that making school later will resolve student's problems with sleeping. Students will still spend the same amount, or maybe even more time studying. They will think that it is fine that they stay up late because school starts later. Or, they might wake up early to study more in the morning since school starts later. I do not believe that an extra hour of sleep will benefit students because instead of taking advantage of sleeping later, they probably will take advantage of studying longer (well at least IHA students would). I like getting out at 1:55 pm because then I have time to go to my sport and still be home at a reasonable hour. For instance, with winter track I would get home around 4:30, a reasonable time to start my homework. Pushing school back later would only push starting my homework later, and I would then be going to sleep later. No matter what, students who actually do their work are going to spend many hours studying and few hours sleeping. I think that the only way students could go to bed earlier is if they get less work. I personally am a "night" person, but I do not believe that being a "morning" or "night" person influences the view on this topic. No matter what students are going to get the same amount of sleep.
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ReplyDeleteThis is so discouraging! I agree with everyone else...despite the positive assertions of the article, there seems to be no good solution to this problem. Making the school start time later could lead to new problems: students may then stay up even later because they think it's okay, students will have less time for work/extra curricular activities/homework after school, etc. It stinks, because I'm obviously happier when I get more sleep, but I always feel that there's just not enough time in the day for me to do everything I need and want to do. Further, I've always been a night person, so I often find myself staying up too late. Unfortunately, though, that then results in increased fatigue, and then I'm neither a morning nor a night person.
ReplyDeleteI actually have found in the past few years that my lack of sufficient sleep during the night leads me to want to take naps mid-afternoon. I wish I lived in some European country where everyone takes an afternoon nap, but I really cannot afford to take naps because of my busy schedule. Further, I've never felt that napping effectively makes up for my lack of nighttime sleep -- which I think was supported in the information about sleep in our textbook.
Going back to later vs. earlier school start times, I'd like to say that I think our situation at IHA isn't too bad. We really don't start learning until after 8am, and we're still able to be out of school by 2pm. Of course, I'm often tired in the morning, but I know of other schools with much much more unfavorable hours than those we face at IHA. So I guess that's the bright side of this situation of sleeplessness!
As the article said, “increasing numbers of studies conducted in various parts of the country show that a change in the start time of the school day can make a significant positive change in the lives of students.” I found myself agreeing with everything the article said and I was actually shocked at some of the facts. I knew that getting more sleep would make a positive difference but I never knew to what extent. This article has me thinking twice about staying up on facebook or watching the end of that movie instead of going to sleep at a healthy time. I cannot even remember the last school night where I have gotten anywhere close to 9.5 hours of sleep, the amount necessary for a student to function well. I am lucky if I get 7 hours of sleep a night. 9.5 hours of sleep at IHA is definitely unimaginable. I doubt that there is any IHA girl that is able to get 9.5 hours of sleep a night, unless of course she doesn’t do any of her homework. Starting school later would definitely be a good thing to do and would definitely benefit students in their daily lives, as proved by the article. I am not basing my response solely on those facts but mainly on personal experience. I know that on the rare occasion I get more than 7 hours of sleep I feel so much better the entire day. When I am well-rested I am in an all around better mood and feel as if I am more productive at school. Just the opposite, when I am tired I feel as if it would not make a difference if I was even in school. When I am tired my mind just shuts down.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think there is some easy, quick-fix solution to this problem by any means. There is no way to make students go to bed earlier. Students stay up late for various reasons, whether it is way too much homework or whether it is their favorite movie on TV, there is always a reason to stay up. Going to sleep just means that school is that much closer. Personally I hate waking up early. Every morning I set my alarm for 7:30, roll out of bed, and get to school just in time. I arrive at school at around 7:47 every morning, giving me just enough time to get into homeroom. I know some girls who wake up at 6:30 and get to school at 7, just because they like being there early. This is definitely not me and I cannot even remember a time when I was at IHA before 7:30 in the morning. People who are early risers would most likely be against opening school an hour later.
None of us gets enough sleep, period. But I don't think that starting school later would have much of an impact in the long run. If school started one hour later, it would end an hour later. Then sports practices and dance classes and piano lessons, etc. would all be an hour later too. Maybe lunch and dinnertime would be pushed back to fit our new schedules. And nothing guarantees that teenagers won't be assigned the same amount of homework and take the same amount of time to complete it. And I'm sure that all of us procrastinators would just end up aimlessly procrastinating an hour later than usual. Start the day at a later time, and end the day at a later time-- there wouldn't be any change to the amount of hours that teens would end up sleeping. "Sleeping in" means nothing unless bedtimes stayed the same, which wouldn't be automatically guaranteed by starting the school day late.
ReplyDeleteAn "extra" hour of sleep would do wonders for me, I am sure of it. But just starting the day later wouldn't actually get me an "extra" hour at all. I think that there is no clear cut solution. No matter how much anyone complains about how little sleep we get, it's rare that we actually do anything about it without feeling guilty or compensating by going to bed early one night and then staying up even later the next night. So I agree with Mariel that the only real and concrete solution is for teens to manage time more efficiently to take advantage of an extra hour of sleep without staying up an hour later to compensate for it.
This has been a big controversy for a long time… I remember having a debate about it in my English class in 7th grade when someone wrote a persuasive essay to the superintendent of the schools to make school start later and end later. The extra hour of sleep can be beneficial to students. But that means that there will be less time after school for after-school activities, homework, and sports. I have a lot of trouble trying to stay up past 11pm… There are days that I can stay up past that time but it's only when I really force myself to. And if I don't get at least 7 hours of sleep, I am not in the best of moods the next day…
ReplyDeleteI don't mind waking up earlier. I get to sleep in on the weekends and I just barely have enough time to get all my work done after school, and at IHA, we finish school at 2. The extra hour added onto the day for being taken off in the morning would not help.
I don't think that there is a way to get students to get to sleep earlier. They will do what they want and if they want to stay up longer, they can. It's all up to them.
One's view on this topic can depend on whether they are a "morning" or a "night" person but not in all cases. Even though I don't stay up late, I'd consider myself more of a night person. And even though I am, I would prefer to have the normal school start time because of the numerous things I have to do after school. But that's just my opinion. Of course, not everyone will agree.
I definitely do not get the required amount of sleep, and I think this goes for all IHA students. I do not think starting school later would benefit students. This is because, like how everyone else said, school would then end later messing up everyone’s typical schedules. This would cause everyone’s extracurricular activities to end later making students still go to sleep late, maybe even later than usual. And since they went to sleep late the extra hour in the morning actually would not do anything.
ReplyDeleteThe same stress with school and not enough sleep would still be there. I agree with Mariel and Katie and how there is no real solution other than to manage your time more wisely. If you do that then you can go to sleep at a reasonable hour and get the 8.5 to 9.5 hours of sleep that teenagers are required to have.
Just like everyone else in the IHA community, I do not get enough sleep at night. Unlike most people that posted above, I actually agree with Nicole on this one. I think that extra hour of sleep in the morning would be extremely beneficial to everyone. I know everyone's argument is that after school activities would end later and you would be up later because of this, but honestly school would be ending only an hour later. For us, that is 3:00 which is the normal time for most kids to get out of school now anyway. Yes, kids will still be stressed with work but practices are only two hours long usually and there is still plenty of time throughout the day to get work done. I really think that extra hour in the morning would be helpful to all students because there is no way to make kids go to sleep any earlier than they are.
ReplyDeleteThere is no way that I could get the required amount of sleep for adolescents. I am unable to actually fall asleep any earlier than 11/11:30 and that's if I really force myself to do so. Usually I'll get about 6.5 hours of sleep per night. While I understand the point that 8.5 hours is better for you than 6.5 in terms of growth and your body's process of recuperation, I think it's much more complicated than that. It's also proven that too much sleep can cause you to feel as if you haven't slept enough. Different people have varied required amounts of sleep to "feel good" when they wake up in the morning. It's not so much how we feel when we wake up. I don't know about anyone else, but I'm miserable in the morning no matter what time it is, even if that's 1:00 in the afternoon. To me, the accurate measure of a good night's sleep is after the peak of the day if I don't crash harshly. I don't think making school later will change anything. Teenagers will still stay up late to study for that test. Procrastinators will remain procrastinators.
ReplyDeleteJust like everyone else I don't get the suggested amount of sleep for adolescents but I don't think that starting school an hour later will help students get more sleep. Most IHA students don't get enough sleep because of homework, studying for tests, sports, music, or other after school activities. Changing the times that school starts will not change anything, because there is still only going to be 24 hours in a day. I think that waking up later for midterms and finals works because we are in a routine of waking up earlier from a normal school day. Midterms/finals are only one week so our bodies don't have time to get used to a later start time and it still feels like we are more well rested because our bodies are used to our normal wake up time. If school started later everyday, we would get used to that sleep cycle and it would not feel like we were sleeping in later because we would still be getting the same amount of sleep.
ReplyDeleteI get between 7-8 hours of sleep per night, and wake up around 7 every morning. Even though I get close to the recommended amount of sleep, I still find it so hard to get up in the morning. When I was in middle school, the school day started at 9:00. I loved it! I could wake up around 8 and make it comfortably to school without rushing. That extra hour in the morning is crucial -- and I found that I was more alert and awake during the day. And I was getting about the same amount of sleep that I get now! Even the extra time I would get during midterms and finals helped me so much. I would be in a better mood when I woke up and would feel so much better!
ReplyDeleteThat said, I know my sister would feel much differently. She is a bona fide morning person, and she loved getting up at 7:00 for IHA when she went here. I'm a night person, so getting up is especially hard for me. I think that aspect plays a big role.
I know that I'd much rather have an extra hour in the morning than in the afternoon, but I can only imagine that some people would think differently. I know that I'd really appreciate it though!
Well obviously speaking as an IHA student, an extra hour of sleep sounds great. But is it practical if we're supposed to be preparing for a career, and most jobs start at a very early time? I'm just playing devil's advocate here, I think our sleeping patterns are insane and unhealthy, but unfortunately that is the reality in the workplace. Maybe its a good thing we're so used to getting up so early and working on 5 hours of sleep because we won't be so shocked when we have to do that to earn a living. However, I will say that people who work don't have to do 4 hours of homework after their long day so they have a better chance of getting to sleep earlier.
ReplyDeleteI think that a lot of girls have hit on the major points of why a different schedule isn't the end-all, be-all solution to student sleeplessness. While statistics are compelling and I'm sure that there are many benefits to changing up the daily routine for more sleep, I'm not sure how beneficial it can be over time. For one, I think changing a routine simply shifts around all of the things we need to cram into one day. But even more importantly, one should consider that a different schedule is effective simply because it is novel. I'd like to see a study done over a significant amount of time comparing sleep on one schedule and then on another. Though students may go to bed at the same time they did previously and simply sleep later, they will slowly revert back to their old routine -- just later at night. They'll begin testing the limits of their schedule much like they did before, realizing that they can waste an extra hour of Facebook in the afternoon, complete their homework an hour later at night, and still be able to function in school just as they did with the previous schedule.
ReplyDeleteI think that there are many ways this argument can go. I personally would love to push school back an hour but I can't help but think that I won't stay up even later knowing that I have "more time" in the morning. I'm not sure that the hour would really benefit the late nighters like myself. I think the best solution for this is time management. The truth is, when most of us get home from school we do have that time to do work so we can get to bed at a decent time; we just decide not to use it to our advantage. I know I go to school, then go from school to work, then go from work to volleyball every day so I think if I still have time to do work after practice than nearly anyone does. Procrastination is a student's worst enemy and the closer we get to graduation the more prevalent it seems to become.
ReplyDeleteI think there are definitely two sides to this argument. I know, for me anyway, even an extra half hour makes a world of difference at 6am in the morning! It's hard getting up so early and being expected to function at above average after a late night of homework the night before. Of course, is it really taking us 6 hours to do our physics homework, or did it take so long because we were on Facebook and Tumblr? Honestly, from my personal experience, I'm on Facebook and Tumblr most of the time which does take a huge chunk out of my work time. Like Danielle I go from school, then straight to work. Rehearsals are sprinkled in every couple of days. So, needless to say, we all have a lot to do. We don't need websites like Facebook and Tumblr holding us back and taking up more of the time we are scrounging together. Yeah, a lot easier said then done. It's easier to say I'll do it later, one second. One second turns into one hour, which turns into 1am. Before you know it, five hours later, you're up for another day, with a similar schedule. Honestly, I think if we started school later, we would just push back out studies and homework even further because we had that extra time to "sleep-in". It's a hard decision to make form an administrative position because there are a lot of students with a lot of different personalities to consider, however, as great as an hour delay may sound, I don't think it's the end-all answer to everything.
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