Every weekday morning millions of parents battle to get their teenage child out of bed and off to school.
Shouts of ‘’you should go to sleep earlier’’, ‘’hurry up or you’ll be late’’ and ‘’ you’re just being lazy’’ echo around neighbourhoods before sleepy sullen faces start to appear and begrudgingly begin their trek to school.
But before you turn to your teenager with accusations of "that’s you’’, spare them a little sympathy.
Some scientists are now of the opinion that biological changes during puberty actually alter the wake/ sleep patterns of teenagers. In April 2013 Professor Russell Foster, a professor of neuroscience at the University of Oxford, told the New Scientist of how the biology of human sleep timing, like that of other mammals, changes as we age.
This would suggest that the reason teenagers can’t get out of bed is down to biology, rather than culture.
We all have an internal body circadian clock that regulates our times of sleepiness and wakefulness. During the day the circadian rhythm dips and rises. The strongest sleep drive in adults is generally between 2am and 4am and again between 1pm and 3pm, although this may vary. This dip in the early afternoon explains why many of us experience a temporary decline in our alertness.
The body's circadian rhythm is maintained by the hormone known as Melatonin, which is secreted by the pineal gland in the brain. Melatonin is often referred to as the ‘darkness hormone’ as it helps individuals fall asleep. In a typical adult, the body starts to release Melatonin at around 10pm.
A teenager’s circadian body clock is different. Changes during adolescence cause a sleep delay and subsequently teenagers are naturally alert at night making it difficult to fall asleep. The Melatonin hormone does not typically kick in till about 1am. Subsequently, for teenagers the strongest dip in the circadian clock occurs between 3am and 7am and again between 2pm and 5pm.
This change to the teenagers sleep pattern coincides with nature cruelly demanding that they get more sleep in order to cope with the changes to their body brought on by the rocky road of puberty.
Therefore, the average teenager needs at least 9 hours sleep a night. This means that if they have to be getting out of bed to get ready for school at 7am, they need to be asleep by 10pm. Unfortunately for the teenagers, they are unlikely to be ready for slumber at that time.
The majority of teenagers will simply have a problem going to sleep at 10 pm. And consequently waking up at 7am will leave them sleep deprived. This sleep deprivation causes the dips in the circadian clock to increase in intensity and the teenagers morning dip could consequently extend until 9 or 10 am because they haven’t had enough sleep.
Taking all of the above into consideration it becomes obvious how calamitous it is that we send our teenagers to school around 8:45 am; a time when their bodies really want to sleep. We then expect them to perform and reach their potential. We have to ask ourselves; are we setting them up to fail?
In Germany and some parts of America, schools are already opening later in the day and have declared it largely successful.
In the United Kingdom schools can choose their own starting time at the beginning of the school year, yet 8:30 – 9am still appears to be the common time.
In October 2009 Monkseaton High School in Tyne and Wear, decided to trial a new starting time. They changed their start time to 10am.Teachers, parents and pupils were given the vote; although about 40% opposed the change it went ahead.
The project was overseen by scientists and according to the headmaster at the time, Dr Paul Kelley, the initial findings showed that lateness and long term absence was reduced and that GCSE results improved.
Monkseaton has since returned to its 8:50 am start time but Dr Kelley, who has now left the school, said that he thought the school should have kept it. He felt that the children did well under the regime and their behaviours improved.
Is it possible that by forcing our teenagers to get up early we are having a negative impact on their learning? Could later start times result in reduced day time sleepiness, reduced truancy and better exam results?
It is common knowledge that lack of sleep can lead to concentration difficulties and this has to have a subsequent effect on the ability of a child to learn. Sleep deprivation could be preventing our teens from reaching their full academic potential.
According to the Newcastle Sleep Disorders Centre, children who do not get enough sleep may also display moodiness, be prone to tantrums and become hyperactive; not the easiest of temperaments for teachers to have to deal with.
Sleep deprived teenagers may also have a reduced immunity to disease and viral infections. Could a later starting time result in less days being taken off sick?
As acknowledged by The National Sleep Foundation, there are obstacles against a later school starting time.
A later start time will inevitably lead to a later release time and accordingly, after school activities could suffer. It could be too dark for outdoor winter activities when the children finish or teachers may not want to stay even later to oversee activities.
Many busy families have to have a synchronised timetable to balance family members’ workloads and activities. The thought of adapting this schedule could put many parents off and prevent them considering the benefits. Parents and students alike may prove resistant to change.
Some people will argue that by allowing teenagers to start school later we are not helping them prepare for adulthood - as grown-ups they may need to start their working days early.
According to science, this should not prove to be a problem; as teenagers develop into adulthood their circadian body rhythms change again and they will gradually return to the wake up time they had about the age of 10.
A change to the school timetable would affect the whole community. Transport would have to adapt, youth and leisure clubs would have to change the times they offer out of curriculum activities and professional bodies such as the police, social workers and health care would have to adjust their working procedures.
One of the biggest challenges would be to educate the whole community and convince it of the benefits. People would have to understand the biological changes that occur in teens making them unable to fall asleep early. They would have to believe that it is not just a matter of making the children go to bed earlier, or a sign of laziness or defiance.
Sleep deprivation is a serious issue that must be addressed by our communities and schools if we are to help our teenagers happily achieve their full potential.
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