Studies show students need 8-10 hours of sleep to be better rested and take on a full school day, this can make teens be more prepared for their day. An 8:30 a.m. start time could be the difference between students failing and thriving. This will walk through how the community makes this work with everyone’s schedules and life.

Around 70% of American high school students feel they do not get enough sleep during the school week. With trying to balance homework with their home life it is almost impossible for teens to get the sleep they need. Along with being on social media and staying up scrolling, this can impact their sleep cycles.

“I probably get around six to seven hours of sleep if we did start later, I would get even more sleep,” junior Sophia Rolando said.

An increase in teens skipping their first hours has been spiking since the Covid-19 pandemic.  With later start times, students can get the extra sleep they need without needing to miss their first hour. This will help fix the amount of absences that studies show are slowly increasing.

“I remember when I was in high school,” multilingual teacher, Brandon Wolfe said. “I just didn’t go to my firsts hour very often because I kind of didn’t need it, so I just slept in instead.”

Teens who get more sleep are 47% less likely to get sick during their flu season. When students get more sleep there body produces cytokines which boost the immune system. Having more sleep causes the body to become healthier and have a better chance at healing if people were to become sick.

Rolando also mentioned how she feels she is less likely to get sick when able to sleep more then 8 hours a night and feels altogether more rested.

Pushing back school start times also means pushing back sports by 65 minutes this makes not only school sports become later, but also year round athletes are forced to have practices go into the night. This causes teens having to work harder to maintain a good balance of homework, social life and family time.

Sophomore Audrey Serres explained how she feels her club swim practice times will be pushed back due to this change saying, “now people are going to be getting there even later.”

With school times being pushed back, teens who have jobs may be forced to quit working if they are unable to make it to shifts on time. This can hurt children who need jobs to afford everyday needs, especially teens who participate in after school clubs and sports will be heavily affected.

“It’ll be hard, because I have a job, and I start working around 4:30 p.m.,” Rolando said. “I have practice later, I wont be able to really have that job anymore.”

As next year’s school year approaches, there are many benefits and challenges for students, parents and teachers alike. Ultimately the change of later start times relies on the community and how well as a whole people are able to adapt and change to this new way of learning.