Science And Logic Tells Us The School Day Should Start Later
There are problems with the current UK school system that I believe could be solved with a later school start time.
Pic: Unsplash / Dewang Gupta
The first reason why school days should start later is that this may lead to more progress being made by students. This is especially true of teenage pupils.
Recent studies have shown that teenagers struggle to sleep at night, not because of their own will not too, but because their brains naturally work on later schedules. This is called ‘sleep delay syndrome’, also known as ‘night owl’ syndrome.
Most teenagers go through a stage of adolescence where their sleep schedule shifts. During this period, teens will experience a biological shift towards a later sleep schedule. In the evening, at around 11 PM, a hormone called melatonin is released in their body. This causes strange sleep patterns and issues.
Due to these messy sleep schedules, there are many negative symptoms that affect the teen’s performance at school. They may see a drop in grades, worse performance in school and tardiness. There may even be an increase in the number of sick days taken.
This is why I think that schools should start later and end later in the day. I think that as a result, young people would be able to make better progress and have more focus in school. This strategy would reduce tired and distracted students.
Considering how stressful adolescence can be and the pressure to do well in school, I think it would make a big impact.