Let Teenagers Sleep
scientificamerican.com
Let Teenagers Sleep
1–10 of 497 posts
Re: Let Teenagers Sleep
#2Can't stress enough how important this is. People's circadian rhythms shift with age, and during teenage years, they are the latest (or most "night owl"-like).
Current school times practically guarantee that teenagers will be too tired and sleep-deprived to learn much.
Re: Let Teenagers Sleep
#3I've gotta ask: is this really such a big problem in other countries? If not, are they starting school later? How are the successful ones dealing with it if not that way?
Re: Let Teenagers Sleep
#4Sorry teens, school isn't about your wellbeing. It's about glorified childcare (if we let out later, who will watch the younger kids? Before it may have been a parent, but now both parents are away at work) and athletics (later start times means your kid will come back from sports practice when it's dark).
Re: Let Teenagers Sleep
#5I've gotta ask: is this really such a big problem in other countries? If not, are they starting school later? How are the successful ones dealing with it if not that way?
The scientific consensus is that children need more sleep than theyre getting, and that waking up later is healthier. I assume this problem is the same in most parts of the world.
Re: Let Teenagers Sleep
#6I've gotta ask: is this really such a big problem in other countries? If not, are they starting school later? How are the successful ones dealing with it if not that way?
You can just ask Google for the typical high school (noting that the term for such schooling can drift) hours in another country. I chose Spain, and it says 9-5 with a 2 hour break for lunch in the middle. Some of the sources say 8:30. Nothing says earlier than that. This article, in contrast, says it required this argument to even get some schools here to compromise on 8:30, and that 9 was the recommendation.
Re: Let Teenagers Sleep
#7One big reason this shift isn't happening is that it creates coordination problems: for many families, everyone leaves for school at the same time, so if you move grade 9 forward an hour, you have to do the same with grade 4 to get any benefit; the 9th grader is taking the 4th grader to school. That problem stopped this shift dead recently where I live.
Re: Let Teenagers Sleep
#8One big reason this shift isn't happening is that it creates coordination problems: for many families, everyone leaves for school at the same time, so if you move grade 9 forward an hour, you have to do the same with grade 4 to get any benefit; the 9th grader is taking the 4th grader to school. That problem stopped this shift dead recently where I live.
Yeah, IIRC Boston actually tried this, and the uproar from parents whose schedules were thrown into disarray was so intense it had to immediately be walked back. It sucks, but there are broader considerations at play.
Re: Let Teenagers Sleep
#9One big reason this shift isn't happening is that it creates coordination problems: for many families, everyone leaves for school at the same time, so if you move grade 9 forward an hour, you have to do the same with grade 4 to get any benefit; the 9th grader is taking the 4th grader to school. That problem stopped this shift dead recently where I live.
It could've happened if the transition to remote work was allowed to keep going, but too many companies were invested in commercial real estate (e.g via REITs etc) to let it happen.
^^gross oversimplification, but I'm standing by it
Re: Let Teenagers Sleep
#10I've gotta ask: is this really such a big problem in other countries? If not, are they starting school later? How are the successful ones dealing with it if not that way?
The scientific consensus is that children need more sleep than theyre getting, and that waking up later is healthier. I assume this problem is the same in most parts of the world.
Can solve that by going to bed earlier too, but I doubt my teenager self would have listened to that.