Sleepless No More In Seattle — Later School Start Time Pays Off For Teens

Sleepless(ˈslēpləs) No More In Seattle(sēˈadl) — Later School Start Time Pays Off For Teens(tēnz)

By Patti Neighmond(nei’mend)

Many American teenagers(ˈtēnˌājər) try to put in a full day of school, homework, after-school activities, sports and college(ˈkälij) prep(prep) on too little sleep. As evidence(ˈevədəns) grows that chronic(ˈkränik) sleep deprivation(ˌdeprəˈvāSHən) puts teens at risk for physical(ˈfizikəl) and mental(ˈmentl) health problems, there is increasing pressure(ˈpreSHər) on school districts(ˈdistrikt) around the country to consider a later start time.

In Seattle, school and city officials recently made the shift. Beginning with the 2016-2017 school year, the district moved the official start times for middle and high schools nearly an hour later, from 7:50 a.m. to 8:45 a.m. This was no easy feat(fēt); it meant rescheduling(ˌrēˈskejəl) extracurricular(ˌekstrəkəˈrikyələr
) activities and bus routes(rout,ro͞ot). But the bottom(ˈbätəm) line goal was met: Teenagers used the extra(ˈekstrə) time to sleep in.

Researchers at the University of Washington studied the high school students both before and after the start-time change. Their findings appear in a study published Wednesday(-dē,ˈwenzdā) in the journal(ˈjərnl) Science Advances. They found students got 34 minutes more sleep on average with the later school start time. This boosted(bo͞ost) their total nightly(ˈnītlē) sleep from 6 hours and 50 minutes to 7 hours and 24 minutes.

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https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/12/12/676118782/sleepless-no-more-in-seattle-later-school-start-time-pays-off-for-teens