HIGH SCHOOL SHOULD START AT 10 TO 11
A
study by researchers from the University of Oxford, Harvard Medical School and
the University of Nevada has found that current school and university start
times are damaging the learning and health of students
Drawing
on the latest sleep research, the authors conclude students start times should
be 08:30 or later at age 10; 10:00 or later at 16; and 11:00 or later at 18.
Implementing these start times should protect students from short sleep
duration and chronic sleep deprivation, which are linked to poor learning and
health problems.
These
findings arise from a deeper understanding of circadian rhythms, better known
as the body clock, and the genes associated with regulating this daily cycle
every 24 hours.
It
is during adolescence when the disparity between inherent circadian rhythms and
the typical working day come about. Circadian rhythms determine our optimum
hours of work and concentration, and in adolescence these shift almost 3 hours
later. These genetic changes in sleeping patterns were used to determine start
times that are designed to optimize learning and health.
The
US Department of Health has also recently published an article in favor of
changing the start times for Middle and High Schools.
Corresponding
author Paul Kelley (Honorary Clinical Research Associate, Sleep and Circadian
Neuroscience Institute, University of Oxford) will be presenting Time: the key
to really understanding our lives at the British Science Festival on Tuesday 8
September.
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