Should School Start Later?

The alarm sounds at 6am and you jump up to quickly turn it off and sleep for just 5 extra minutes. It's almost as if we as students are robots in a computer simulation. Every day we drag ourselves out of bed at 6am go to school, come home, go to bed and just keep on repeating that same old cycle. Waking up at 6am can be tiring but we do it anyway because we need an education. I guarantee a lot of you would chose not to wake up this early if you had the choice. Students are very busy both academically and physically with sports and clubs and other outside of school activities. These activities result in students coming home late and staying up until the sun goes down to get every last bit of homework done and finish studying for the 4 tests they have in one day. In the midst of all the activities and work students can only get as low as 4 hours of sleep! This lack of sleep can cause a major drop in grades and academic performance. Most certainly, this affect the health of students. Teenagers should get 8 hours of sleep on average but with the early start and late night activities this is very hard to achieve. A recent poll conducted by the National Sleep Foundation found that 60% of children under the age of 18 complained of being tired during the day, according to their parents, and 15% said they fell asleep at school during the year. “I get home from my activities at 9 and sometimes i don't get to go to sleep until midnight because i have tons of homework and then when i have to wake up at 6am i feel very sleep deprived,” says Kimmy Wilkes a junior. This loss of sleep can lead to sleep deprivation which can lead to  weight gain and eating disorders and increased risk of obesity, cardiovascular problems, and diabetes; reduced immunity; depression; anxiety; substance abuse; mood swings; behavior problems; suicidal ideation; and potential impacts on brain development. So eventually, starting school at an early hour can be harmful to students. School should start at 8:30, and although it might drag out the day it can prevent lots of problems.