Health experts who have studied sleep deprived(严重匮乏的) children and teenagers have found they are at risk of being overweight and depressed, more likely to take up smoking, drinking, and more likely to do poorly in school.
Now, researchers with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are recommending that school districts help deal with the problem by starting classes no earlier than 8:30 a.m. Researchers looked at schools’ start time schedules in 8,000 schools. Only 1 in 6 started at 8:30 or later, so that means 5 out of 6 were starting too early. If a kid is in first period(课) when they should still be asleep, how much are they really learning?
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommended the 8:30 a.m. start time. That recommendation was based on natural sleep rhythms of school age children, especially teenagers. Researchers say teens should be getting 8.5 to 9.5 hours of sleep every night, but two-thirds of them don’t get nearly that much sleep, and that doesn’t just lead to health problems. It can be a public safety problem, too—teenagers who drive to school, for example. In Montgomery County, Md., the school board has been debating this issue for years. It recently voted to start classes 20 minutes later in middle and high schools, 10 minutes later in elementary schools, even though many parents wanted an even later start time.
Montgomery school spokesman Dana Tofig says the cost of starting school later was a huge consideration. Changing bus schedules for 90,000 students this fall is going to be a huge task, he says, but it’s not going to cost that much more money. As for the overall benefits of starting school later, Dana Tofig says: “I think a lot of it will have to do with what our students tell us—the health benefits. Are our students happier? Are they more engaged(投入的) in school? Are we seeing fewer incidences(发生率) of negative behavior or depression? Are they not falling asleep in first period?”
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