News
School, More Wellbeing With A Late Start
It’s official: When the school day starts later, teens get better sleep and feel more motivated!
Often assumed to be the product of laziness or moodiness, the difficulty rising in the morning is actually due to adolescent sleep patterns. During teenage years, circadian rhythms are relatively delayed, causing teenagers to both go to sleep and wake up later in the day.
In an attempt to compensate for lost sleep during the week, teens often oversleep on weekends and reduce their sleep overall. As poor sleep routines are associated with cardiovascular issues, mood disorders, substance abuse and more, it’s easy to see why improving sleep in teens is an appealing target.
But what if school starting times worked with, rather than against, teenage sleep requirements? Research studies from years gone by indicate that such a change could be beneficial, but many lacked appropriate methods to measure potential effects of sleep interventions over longer periods of time.
This is precisely the gap that Anna Biller and colleagues in Germany endeavoured to fill with a recent study in Scientific Reports. After several trials involving students at a secondary school, the study provided clear evidence of the benefits of a late start: not only did the students enjoy getting to school later on late-start days, they also felt more motivated and able to concentrate, and reported greater sense of wellbeing.
Often assumed to be the product of laziness or moodiness, the difficulty rising in the morning is actually due to adolescent sleep patterns. During teenage years, circadian rhythms are relatively delayed, causing teenagers to both go to sleep and wake up later in the day.
In an attempt to compensate for lost sleep during the week, teens often oversleep on weekends and reduce their sleep overall. As poor sleep routines are associated with cardiovascular issues, mood disorders, substance abuse and more, it’s easy to see why improving sleep in teens is an appealing target.
But what if school starting times worked with, rather than against, teenage sleep requirements? Research studies from years gone by indicate that such a change could be beneficial, but many lacked appropriate methods to measure potential effects of sleep interventions over longer periods of time.
This is precisely the gap that Anna Biller and colleagues in Germany endeavoured to fill with a recent study in Scientific Reports. After several trials involving students at a secondary school, the study provided clear evidence of the benefits of a late start: not only did the students enjoy getting to school later on late-start days, they also felt more motivated and able to concentrate, and reported greater sense of wellbeing.