The amount of sleep a high school student gets is important to many different aspects of their lives. Starting school early in the day can cause a negative impact on a student’s overall health, especially one’s sleep intake. According to the National Sleep Foundation, 87% of high school students are sleep deprived.

“Sleep is one of the greatest contributing factors for success for anybody.” Health Teacher Mr. Hott said.

Having students stay awake through all their classes has been an ongoing issue. With an hour later start to the school day, this would allow students to get more sleep in order to have an easier time staying awake in class.

“Teens should get at least 7-8 hours of sleep each night, but studies have shown females should get more.” Hott sad.t.

Many states such as our own are still hesitant to change schedules, because of the drawbacks. Change in bus schedules could potentially cause conflict to parents who need to get to work. Some even question if students would even use the extra hour for the right purpose.

“I think their overall health would stay the same. Students that take school seriously would utilize the extra hour, but others would use the hour to stay up later.” Hott said.

Even though there could be new problems created by the change in schedule, allowing just one extra hour in the morning would be more helpful than harmful.

“I have a hard time staying awake in class, and having a later start to the school day would help me and others. I would benefit by getting more sleep, and would function better.” Liliana Romero said.