High School Kids Get to Snooze Late

Scientific studies show that as youngsters move toward high school age, they become less able to go to sleep early and thus less able to be alert and attentive at early hours in the morning.

Based on these studies, a task force of the Falls Church School Board has adjusted an earlier recommendation that classes at George Mason High School begin at 7:30 a.m. next fall. Now, they're calling for high school to begin at 8 a.m., under a new staggered start time schedule accompanying the opening of the new Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School on the same property. The middle school start time will be 7:30 a.m. in the revised plan, and in order to have enough time for the City's limited fleet of school buses to complete their runs, the elementary school start time will be 8:45 a.m.

Controversy erupted among parents of both middle schoolers and high schoolers recently when it was learned that a condition of the Fairfax County site plan approval for construction of a new middle school included staggering the start times of the two schools.

A combination of traffic congestion concerns and availability of school buses drove the condition required by the county. At its meeting this Tuesday, the Falls Church School Board heard the latest recommendation of its special committee, and resolved to hold a public hearing on it at its regular Feb. 23 business meeting. A final vote on the new opening times schedule is slated for March 8.

A wide array of scientific studies, some of which were presented to the School Board here, show that as teenagers grow into their high school years, the nightly release of melatonin, one of the hormones that helps regulate sleeping and waking patterns, takes place about 30 minutes later than during earlier adolescence.

According to a Mayo Clinic study, this shift takes place just as a child's need for sleep increases. While younger children need eight hours of sleep a night, most adolescents require between 8 1/2 and 9 1/4 hours a night.

A National Sleep Foundation survey showed that more than half of teenagers go to sleep after 10 p.m., and a quarter normally stay up past 11 p.m. Therefore, most teens manage only seven hours of sleep a night, and a quarter regularly sleep 6 1/2 hours or less.

As a result, many experts say 7:30 a.m. is too early for high schoolers to begin a school day. "Many eyes are open, but the brains are asleep," said Mary Carskadon, director of chronobiology at the Bradley Hospital in Rhode Island and professor in the psychology and human behavior department at the Brown University School of Medicine. Her findings were published in a 1997 edition of Parents' Press.

A study of 3,120 Rhode Island teenagers conducted by Carskadon and a colleague found that 85% were chronically sleep-deprived and accumulated a minimum 10-hour sleep deficit during the week.