Just last month I went to the doctor’s office for my annual physical. Included in a series of questions that my doctor asked me was, “On average, how many hours of sleep do you get every night?” I answered the question honestly and said, “About six hours.” My doctor looked at me in shock and disbelief. She said, “Caitlin, this is a serious problem. You need to try and get more sleep.” I agree, I believe adolescents today face a widespread chronic health problem: sleep deprivation.

            I routinely go to bed around midnight and wake up at six. Often times my parents yell at me for getting so little sleep, however my response is consistent, “Would you like me to get good grades or go to bed earlier?” I recognize that my response could be controversial seeing that more sleep could very well improve my grades. I have experienced and observed this issue fall to a standstill between a student’s need for more sleep and a student’s need to get good grades. I propose a solution to this problem: pushing high school start times back, allowing the day to start later. I believe this change would result in numerous beneficial outcomes.

            Milton High School begins at 7:50 in the morning and ends at 2:19 in the afternoon. The entire school day is six hours and twenty-nine minutes long. I would suggest that we move the school’s start time to 9:00 am and it’s end time to 3:29 pm. This adjustment would support the administration’s never-ending effort to get kids to school on time, as the percentage of oversleeping cases would most likely decrease. In addition, a later start time would allow kids more time to eat a hearty, complete breakfast. A better breakfast would not only improve students’ concentration and performance in the classroom, but also allow them to be more energetic. Pushing the start time back would also reduce the overall tiredness among students at the beginning of the day. Kids would be more efficient right away rather than after a couple of periods. The final and most powerful argument I would make in favor of a later start to school would be that students would have the opportunity to get more sleep. If adolescents were able to get eight hours of sleep instead of six, so many aspects of their life would be improved. They would be happier, healthier, stronger, more alert, more efficient, and more productive. I believe the benefits of starting the school day later truly shine brighter than any and all of the issues that could be uncovered while making this adjustment.