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Mary Brown

Professor Leonard

English 2V3

21 March 2021

Literature Review

The sleeping patterns of adolescents today are generally incredibly unhealthy. Due to the

different expectations put on adolescents, the different timing of certain events, and the

hormones in their bodies, a healthy sleep schedule for an average adolescent has become almost

impossible to maintain. These observations beg the question: how would a healthier sleep

schedule improve all aspects of adolescent’s lives? Or, more specifically; what affect does sleep

have on adolescent’s health and how does sleep affect their relationships with their school work,

their family, and their friends?

Originally, students of all ages attended school together and all learned in the same room.

Because of this, the classes for every age started at the same time. As the separation of ages into

grades became increasingly common around the 1930’s, staggering the start times for school also

became normalized. The thought was that teenagers would start the earliest in an effort to

prepare them for adult life. In recent years, however, evidence has come to light about how

negatively this affects adolescents (Wahlstrom).

The aforementioned reasoning behind having adolescents start school the earliest is

deeply flawed. The main issue is the assumption that teenagers and adults are at the same stage

in development. It needs to be understood that teenagers are still developing and have extremely

different needs than a fully developed adult. Teens require more sleep than adults. Adolescent’s

bodies make it almost impossible for them to fall asleep before 11 o’clock at night due to
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melatonin secretion (Wahlstrom) and their circadian rhythm (Richter). More is expected from

teens than adults. Between maintaining grades, working a job, staying active, extracurriculars

and clubs, teens have little to no free time and the free time they do have is generally spent

sleeping.

Adolescents’ bodies require nine or more hours of sleep per night for development and

yet around 85% of adolescents receive less than eight hours of sleep per night. An estimated

23.8% of adolescents suffer from insomnia (Suni). There are multiple reasons behind the lack of

sleep adolescents receive. Despite the common theory of them being lazy and unmotivated, teens

are biologically hardwired to go to bed later and wake up later due to their melatonin secretion.

While adults and pre-teen’s melatonin secretion varies and is flexible, adolescent’s melatonin

secretion is much stricter. In a typical adolescent, the body does not secrete melatonin until 10:45

p.m. and the body finishes secreting melatonin at around 8:00 a.m. The cause for this is mainly

puberty and the teen years being major years in development (McNamara). Another contributing

factor to the lack of sleep adolescents receive includes school start times.

One of the more alarming affects of sleep deprivation among adolescents is the car

accidents due to drowsy driving. One study researched two different schools with start times an

hour apart. The school that started at 7:20 a.m. experienced 65.4 out of 1000 students getting into

a car accident, while the school that started at 8:40 a.m. experienced 46.2 out of 1000 students

getting into a wreck. That is a 41% difference. In another study, the researchers found that

pushing back school start times in order to allow sleep for adolescents resulted in a 16.5%

decrease in accidents caused by adolescents (Holohan).

Studies show that lack of sleep in adolescents not only decreases a teens academic

performance, but increases the likelihood of substance abuse and mental illnesses. Based on
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statistics between schools with varying start times, those with a later start time experience better

academic performance, better attendance, less substance abuse, and less car accidents due to

drowsy driving. Not only is later start times a safer option, it gives teens the opportunity to

properly wake up and be fully alert when learning (Wahlstrom).

A lack of sleep affects you not only physically and academically, but mentally and

emotionally. Not getting enough sleep can lead to unhealthy eating habits, depression and

anxiety, and using drugs, alcohol or cigarettes. It also causes teens to be moody, unpleasant and

irritable. The moodiness can negatively affect their relationships with their family and friends.

One solution to the lack of sleep would be to push back the start times of high schools.

The schools that have implemented this have seen tremendous improvement and while it could

prove to be a difficult task, it is necessary. A change must occur unless we want the roads to

remain unsafe and our adolescents to remain exhausted and depressed and academically

struggling.
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Works Cited

Holohan, Ellin. Earlier School Start Times Endanger Teen Drivers. Gale, Cengage Learning,

2013. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=edsgov&AN=edsgcl.EJ3010521222&site=eds-live.

McNamara, Brittney. "Why Schools Should Start Later and Teens Should Sleep More." Gale

Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, Gale, 2021. Gale In Context: Opposing

Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/PECSFF838512227/OVIC?

u=dayt30401&sid=OVIC&xid=bea40ede. Accessed 21 Mar. 2021. Originally published

as "Why Schools Should Start Later and Teens Should Sleep More," Teen Vogue, 4 Jan.

2019.

Richter, Ruthann. “Among Teens, Sleep Deprivation an Epidemic.” News Center,

med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2015/10/among-teens-sleep-deprivation-an-

epidemic.html.

Suni, Eric. Sleep for Teenagers. 5 Aug. 2020, www.sleepfoundation.org/teens-and-sleep.

Wahlstrom, Kyla. "Sleepy teenage brains need school to start later in the morning." Gale

Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, Gale, 2021. Gale In Context: Opposing

Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/PFETPI145570028/OVIC?

u=dayt30401&sid=OVIC&xid=2bc94fb8. Accessed 7 Mar. 2021. Originally published as

"Sleepy teenage brains need school to start later in the morning," The Conversation, 12

Sept. 2017.
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