Schools partly at fault for teens’ lack of sleep
By Rebecca Klein, Huffington Post
Most kids are severely sleep deprived, and early school starting times aren’t helping.
Across the country, only 17.7 percent of middle and high schools start classes after 8:30am, contrary to 2014 recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics. Instead, the average school start time for middle and high schools around the country is 8:03am, according to a new analysis from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The AAP recommends that schools start after 8:30 to help teens get 8.5 to 9.5 hours of sleep a night — the amount the AAP says is ideal. Currently, less than a third of high school students sleep eight hours a night, says the CDC analysis.
The analysis uses 2011-2012 information from the Department of Education to glean the start times of about 39,700 schools. Alaska has the latest average school start time at 8:33am, while Louisiana has the earliest at 7:40am.