Five days a week, at 8:00 AM, our Vikings are expected to be at school and to be prepared to start their day. This, however, is way too early for some teenagers; starting school at a later time will not only improve school performance but also improve the physical and mental health of students.

As I’m sure you’ve heard countless times, it is imperative that students get seven to ten hours of sleep a day. Assuming students wake up at 6:30 AM, spend fifteen minutes getting ready, and then drive twenty minutes to school, students would have to sleep at 8:30 PM in order to get the recommended amount of sleep, or will otherwise face various health risks that can have effects on their mental and physical well-being.

This, however, is a ridiculous prospect for students, given that the average teen gets tired considerably later than small children and adults. This is due to the sleep-inducing hormone,  melatonin, which is produced much later than in the brains of a teen student’s parents or younger siblings. The brains and hormones of teens, therefore, remain active for hours into the night; as a result, teens aren’t built to wake up early.

Once at school, it takes students around one to two hours to truly wake up. The struggle to focus early in the morning is something that everyone has experienced one time or another, but being subjected to it on a daily basis is why even the most diligent students could be caught dozing off during a lecture first thing in the morning.

Another consequence of the early start time is that many high school students are forced to skip breakfast for the sake of making it to the first period. Eating a healthy breakfast before starting the school day is linked to improved concentration, better test scores, increased energy, a higher intake of vitamins and minerals, and even healthier body weight.

Furthermore, for athletes who have practice in the mornings, most have to wake up at 5:00 AM in order to make it to school on time for practice. If school were to start later, however, it would be much easier on athletes and give them more time to sleep in before starting their day.

Research has even shown that students who get less than 8 hours sleep at night were two-thirds more likely to get injured than those who do. What’s more, over 20% of these injuries required a trip to the emergency room. The more sleep an athlete gets, the less drowsy, clumsy, and better reflexes, they will have – all things that can impact your performance in a sport.

Similarly, many students drive to school, meaning that if they wake up early and drive to school without the proper amount of sleep, there is a much higher risk of accidents occurring.

School, therefore, should start later, due to the mental and physical health benefits it would bring students and the improved academic and athletic performance.