Persuasive Essay on Why School Should Start Later in the Day
Did you know starting school’s even as little as one hour later can improve not only students academic performance but also their physical health?. Sleep is vital to everyone, it's needed equally as much as eating, drinking and even breathing. How else are we as Students meant to recover from all the exhaustion -both physical and mental- the school day brings us?. By starting School one hour later, you’re helping provide students with a sufficient amount of sleep to get them through the school day. In this essay, I will aim to provide enough sufficient evidence that a later start to the school day would improve not only the physical health of students but also their mental health as well as their academic success and improve their sleep schedule.
Within This Paragraph, I will argue that the physical health and wellbeing of students can improve by starting the school day later. During Sleep, our bodies remain engaged in order to repair, heal and build it's tissue and muscle. When our bodies lack the amount of sleep required, our bodies compromise it’s capability to do it's job accurately. Teenagers are at significatly greater risk for lots of health issues including Type 2 Diabetes, obesity as well as injuries due to drowsiness and high blood pressure when suffering from sleep deprivation as the lack of sleep puts additional stress on the body and can influence the bodies hormone levels. Due to this, bodies have decreased immune function and increased inflammation. Students chances of experiencing these horrible effects significantly decrease by allowing them to have more sleep in the morning. Research by an OU academic has found that teenagers between the ages of 13-16 who started school at 10am, had improved health. The research, published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience today (8 December 2017), found that after the 10am school start, student absences due to sickness dropped by over 50%.
Furthermore, You can also see that mental health and wellbeing also improves by starting schools later as the amount of sleep a person gets directly affects their mood for instance when young people achieve their necessary amount of sleep they display an enhanced capability to endure and manage the stress in their lives adequately. In comparison to when they’re sleep deprived, They usually endure mood swings more often. They’re levels of attention and behaviour related issues rise as well as their irritability levels. In a study from 2018, researchers investigated the correlation between sleep and mental health in 690 teenagers. Their Study concluded that those with sleep problems struggled much more with mental health problems than those who got sufficent rest regularly.
Additionally, Students also have higher chances of academic success. After getting a sufficient amount of sleep, you’re more alert and are able to make more decisions which allows you to comprehend and absorb new information easier. Whilst sleep deprivation can negatively affect brain development and function. Implementing a later start to the school day allows students to start the day more refreshed and better equipped to handle to school day ahead. Therefore, They’re significantly less likely to fall asleep whilst in class and can focus their attention on their assignments when they’ve arrived home from school rather than resting and rejuvenate their energy. In 2017, a study was conducted to look into the relationship between school start times and academic performance. Students were observed before and after the 70 minute time difference was put into effect, and researchers found academic success improved significantly after pushing the school start time. From a study, behavioural sleep specialist Dr. Alicia Roth observed, Start times were at 8:50AM for a year, 10AM for two years, then switched back to 8:50 AM. Changing to a 10AM start times created positive differences in students’ health and academic performance, which went back to baseline levels when the schools start time changed back to it's originial start time.
To Finalize my argument that schools should start later, Meeting the necessary amount of sleep is essential for legitimate functioning, mood and cognition. Starting School later allows students to rest more during the mornings and possibly diminish daytime sleepiness. It also means students can follow their natural sleep schedule - going to sleep after 11 pm and waking up around 8 or 9 am. Sufficient sleep times give the body more time to repair and restore itself, benefiting the immune system, muscle recovery, athletic performance, and reducing sleepiness during the day. This evidence suggests that starting classes later means students would have more time to get much-needed rest. In 2018, schools in Seattle pushed the starting times back for their middle and high schools by one hour. Researchers at the University of Washington closely monitored their sleep schedules using wrist activity monitors. The moinitors measured how much sleep the students were getting each night compared to night before. They found that the students went to bed at the same time but they stayed asleep for longer
In Conclusion, I have proven the amount of sleep a person gets directly affects their physical and mental health, academic success and sleep schedule. By implementing a later start to the school day, Teenagers are at lower risk for lots of health issues including Type 2 Diabetes and obesity along with mental health issues such as mood swings and would actually help them manage their stress better. Starting School later allows students to rest more during the mornings and possibly diminish daytime sleepiness. Students also have higher chances of academic success as they can comprehend and retain the information easier.
