In 2014, American Academy of Pediatrics recommended that middle schools and high schools start no earlier than 8:30 a.m. to allow adolescents to get the sleep they need.12
The American Medical Association,13 the American Academy of Sleep Medicine,14 and other medical associations have since expressed support of delaying school start times for adolescents.
Good sleep hygiene in combination with later school times will enable adolescents to be healthier and better academic achievers.
Provide Sleep Education
Schools can add sleep education to the K–12 curriculum to help children and adolescents learn why sleep is important to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Lessons in sleep patterns and sleep disorders, snoring, drowsy driving, and insomnia are among topics teachers can cover in the classroom to help students develop healthy sleep habits.
Sleep education programs in school may result in significantly longer weekday and weekend total sleep time and improved sleep hygiene (habits that support good sleep) after completion.6 However, more research is needed to determine how best to maintain these improvements long term. One possible strategy is to incorporate refresher sessions for students.
Review School Start Times
The combination of late bedtimes and early school start times results in most adolescents not getting enough sleep. In recent years, evidence has accumulated that later school start times for adolescents result in more students getting enough sleep.10,11
School officials can learn more about the research connecting sleep and school start times. School districts can support adequate sleep among students by implementing delayed school start times as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American Medical Association, and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
