High-schools Must Start after 8 A.M: Pediatricians

Experts say starting early for school may not be good for teens' mental and physical health.

Recently, researchers from the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a new statement urging schools to open after 8:30 a.m. They add delaying school timings helps improve their academic performance and stay physically and mentally fit. Many middle and high school-goers suffer from sleep deprivation that causes depression and obesity, reduces attention span, triggers anxiety and increases risk of road accidents.

The health officials said after puberty, teens undergo drastic changes in the body that require them to have enough shut-eye and rest. They also suffer from inability to fall asleep before 11p.m and need at least eight to nine hours of peaceful sleep.

A new research also found delaying school timings was attributed to better performance in higher education, increased attendance, better scores and less incidents of students dozing off during class hours.

"I think that we definitely acknowledge that changing school start times is a challenge for many communities and that there are political, logistical and financial considerations associated with that, but at the end of the day this is something that communities can do to have a significant and definite impact of the health of their population," Judith Owens, study author and sleep medicine specialist at Children's National Health System in Washington, told Reuter's News.

"We've been steadily accumulating the evidence to demonstrate that chronic sleep loss has very significant health safety and performance outcomes. More is better, but even that modest amount of a shift can have very, very positive effects," she adds.

The authors hope schools and regulatory authorities would seriously consider revising school timings and schedule. Their study encourages parents and educators to know about the importance of a good night's sleep on adolescent brain and physical health.

"It will definitely help them to get more sleep but if they continue without improving their sleep hygiene maybe we would soon be talking about 10 o'clock," said Umakanth Khatwa, director of Sleep Laboratories at the Center for Pediatric Sleep Disorders at Boston Children's Hospital, reports Reuter's News.

"I think the most important advice I'd give to parents is keep the wakeup time consistent on weekends. If the adolescents wake up on noon on weekend there is no way they're going to fall asleep again at 10 or 11 at night," said Khatwa.

More information is available online in the journal Paediatrics.