According to the academy, waking up too early interferes with teenagers’ natural sleep cycles and is linked to depression, obesity, and drowsy driving. Teens naturally fall asleep later than younger children, but still need to be able to fit in 8.5 to 9.5 hours of sleep. It’s not just health that suffers when they don’t rest enough; school performance may, too. When Minneapolis shifted from a 7:15 a.m. start time to 8:40 a.m., absenteeism went down.
The impact of later start times on academic achievement is less clear-cut, but there’s enough evidence pointing in that direction that it’s worthy of broader experimentation. That could include some schools in Boston, where classes at Latin Academy begin at 7:20 a.m. and other high schools are barely later. Modernizing school hours would not be a tough sell to students — especially here, where many students have to get up even earlier for long commutes. Parents and teachers might put up more protest to a disruption in long-settled routines, but they’ll see the most benefit if later hours lead to healthier, happier students.