Schools tweak time to let teens sleep late
Like many teenagers, Harrison Killick likes to stay up late playing video games. But unlike most of his peers, Killick can play late even on a school night - because his school doesn't start until 11 am.
The teen attends the Hugh Christie school in Kent county, England. For nearly two years, the school has been starting classes for 16-18-year-olds later than normal; classes run from 11 am until 5 pm And it is considering extending that policy to younger teenagers.
It is one of a handful of schools in Britain that delay class starts to midmorning. In the United States, schools or entire districts in 19 states have pushed back their start times. More than 100 schools in 17 more states are considering delaying their start times.
As World Sleep Day was marked on Friday, many people must've wondered whether they get enough sleep.
Since the Hugh Christie School began its experiment in 2006, 17-year-old Killick said he feels much better rested and attentive in class. "I feel a lot more relaxed and awake when I'm at school," said the teen.
Some experts believe that teenagers naturally need more sleep than adults. "There's a change in hormones in teenagers' brains that requires some rewiring in the brain," said Jim Horne, director of the Sleep Research Center at Loughborough University. "That rewiring can only be done in deep sleep," he said.
Delaying classes for teens until later in the day helps them learn better, experts say. Since classes were shifted later at the Hugh Christie School, average grades have improved.
But Horne said that schools with later start times might also indulge teens. "It's possible this could be solved with better parental control," Horne said.
AP
(China Daily 03/21/2009 page11)
