When I consider the benefits of school, I think about learning and socializing, among other things I look forward to every day. I do not think there are many negatives that come with school as I am grateful to receive an education, but there is one thing that I dread: waking up. Now, obviously, I do not hate the thought of having to wake up itself, as I do this every day. Rather it is the fact that I have to wake up at such an early time for school after not getting much sleep the previous day, and as a result get inadequate sleep quite often.

The common response to this problem seems to be “just go to sleep earlier!,” but that is not as simple as it sounds. Teachers assign heavy homework loads to students, which can take quite a long time to complete nightly. Many students have extracurriculars such as ASB, clubs, and sports that take time after school as well. Because students have to devote time to these extracurriculars, there is not very much time left for them to be able to do homework, eat, shower, and go to sleep at a timely fashion. With all these other activities that students take part in, as well as the nightly homework load, it is very reasonable why high school students would go to sleep pretty late every day.

In addition to the little sleep that students are getting, according to the New York Times, “The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute recommends that teenagers get between nine and 10 hours of sleep” per night, solely to deal with the rapid change that all teenage bodies go through. Clearly, high school schedules and the rigor it brings does not help that cause. The New York Times also cited that “more than 90 percent of high schools and more than 80 percent of middle schools start before 8:30 a.m.,” with Issaquah High School starting at 8:00 a.m. With an early start time as well as a schedule molded as such that students get inadequate sleep, it seems like there is a problem.

With this information in mind, what should be done to ensure that students get enough sleep per night? Should school start later? When asked what he does to make sure he gets adequate sleep at night, Sasank Gopisetti, freshman, said, “I try to sleep early, which works sometimes, not all the time. I do homework early too.” Many others echoed the same answer, including junior Tommy Reisner, who said, “I get in bed at a reasonable time and mentally get ready to sleep, which is around 10:00 p.m. I get homework done early on as well.”

Our school’s start time of 8:00 am drew several mixed responses. Among those who supported the start time were seniors Makayla Lang and Trey Cary, who both expressed that the start time is later than it used to be, as prior to two years ago, school started at 7:20 a.m. Junior and varsity volleyball athlete Olivia Morgan expressed,“It’s a good start time because if school starts later, it ends later and that means there’s less time for sports and homework.” Of those that disagreed with the start time, there was a common theme of wanting to make every day begin later in the day, and not having varying start times on different days. Freshman Libby Yoon said, “I’d make the start time later… make every day like Wednesday.”

“They do not really care about sleep, they care about our performance,” said senior Trey Cary when asked what our school does well concerning the sleep of students. Although it may seem this way at times, there are systems that our school has put in place to aid this problem. Among these are the Wednesday late start and Nest Time. When asked if the Wednesday late start helps with sleep, the answer was a unanimous “yes.” However, when asked whether Nest Time helps with sleep, there were very mixed opinions. Most students, echoed the answer of sophomore Emily Webber, who said, “No, I just talk with friends.” Junior Olivia Morgan said, “I don’t think it’s as beneficial as people think… I think it’s good for making up tests or asking teachers questions, but not really good for sleep.” Among those who said Nest Time helped with sleep was junior Tommy Reisner, who said, “On the days I don’t have an SEL session I can do homework that I would’ve done the night before, so I can get more sleep.”

Other than citing those two systems as things our school does well concerning the sleep of students, students noted the switch of start time from 7:20 a.m. to 8:00 a.m., and the fact that the schedule allows for athletes to have time after school. Sophomore Emily Webber stated, “Most teachers assign assignments with a long time limit so I don’t get very stressed and stay up late” as something our school does well with this issue. However, when asked what he would like to see changed to improve this problem, junior Tommy Reisner had a varying opinion, saying he would “probably make the homework scheduling a bit less rigorous, maybe have some communication between teachers so they don’t load you up all on one night.” Of the eight interviewees, only one said they would not change a thing. Sophomore Frederick Lu stated that there is nothing he would change, as “there’s nothing you really can do other than push it back but I do not want that to happen because then school would end later.” However, almost every other interviewee seemed to be okay with a later end, as almost all the other interviewees stated they would like a later start time.

It is clear now that our students have varying opinions on our start time. While some agree with the start time, most would like a later start time, and science agrees. According to The Conversation, “The biological changes that teenagers go through mean they need to go to bed later, wake up later and get up to eight or nine hours of sleep… The solution is simple in theory: starting times should be adjusted to reflect the fact that teenagers need later starts as they get older.” The article goes on to state that “there is extensive medical evidence about the harms of starting school or university too early: doing so places teenage students at greater risk of obesity, depression, drug use and bad grades.” Science seems to lean towards making school start later, but would this really benefit the sleep of students? The New York Times states that, “Six studies… showed that delaying the start of school from 25 to 60 minutes corresponded with increased sleep time of 25 to 77 minutes per week night.”

Although a later start time may be the solution to high school sleep deprivation, it does not seem likely that a change will be made soon. Just two years ago our schedule was altered from 7:20 a.m. to 8:00 a.m., and if Issaquah High changed to a later start time, this could mess with the scheduling of extracurriculars and affect the district as a whole. So what can we do to ensure we high school students get adequate sleep? Some things we can do, as stated by my fellow interviewees, include getting homework done early in the day, not using your phone before bed, not eating foods high in sugar or caffeine before bed, and of course, just sleeping earlier. Although it may not be the greatest experience to wake up so early, it will prepare students for the corporate world.