An opinion article from the New Zealand Medical Journal is placing the spotlight on the importance of sleep in adolescents. Photo / 123rf
An opinion article from the New Zealand Medical Journal is placing the spotlight on the importance of sleep in adolescents. Photo / 123rf
Northlanders on the streets of Whangārei have provided a mixed response to research suggesting high school students should start school no earlier than 9.45am to enable maximum sleep and performance in school.
The New Zealand Medical Journal last week released an article that explored the benefits of later start times for adolescents.
Issues associated with poor sleep are known to impact adolescent health broadly, causing mood disturbances, depressive symptoms, cognitive and behavioural problems, suicidality, injury, car accidents and risk of weight gain and obesity.
The “intricate intertwining” of health and education can be highlighted within the knock-on effects of low sleep, including an increase in absenteeism rates, a lack of enjoyment in schools, and lowered academic achievement, according to authors of the article.
Whangārei year 13 student Sofie Parker believes later start times will leave students feeling “refreshed”.
“It’s already so much for students to wake up early, have a full day of school and most of them having part time jobs, getting home at like ten o clock, having to wake up at six o’clock the next day as well as homework on top of that.”
She said schooling could be “full on” for students without added pressures of getting quality sleep, but she saw “pros and cons” to the suggestion.
Sofie Parker, 17 years old, year 13 believes more sleep would benefit students who have "full on" days. Photo / Tania Whyte
She said the school holidays were a key example of when students’ mental health was better.
“I feel like everybody mentally feels so much nicer doing things very much in their own pace, and as soon as you get back to school you feel like you’re on the clock all the time.”
She believes a later start time will leave students feeling “refreshed”, after having full on days “all the time.”
Research has shown that 40 per cent of New Zealand teens sleep less than the recommended eight to 10 hours per night, with a further 57 per cent reporting their sleep is poor quality.
Petra Unkel’s 16-year-oldson currently attends high school, and she “totally agrees” with the prospect.
“Even people at work should have the possibility to start later, because everybody has a different routine.”
Petra Unkel, mum, "totally agrees" with students starting school later. Photograph / Tania Whyte
She believes her son will be “not so distracted, and less tired” in class.
“I’d hope that he’d be more awake and more productive,” she said.
The article highlighted adolescents waking at 7am has much different implications than with adults.
“To aid morning waking, melatonin release is suppressed around three hours before waking. In adults, this is around 4 am, but in adolescents, this is not until about 7 am. In essence, this means that waking a teen at 7 am every day is similar to waking an adult at 4 am.″
With later bedtimes with each passing year, the researchers highlighted a definitive need for students to wake later in the morning.
Researchers also questioned whether current start times were getting in the way of sleep equity, with Pasifika and Māori students disproportionately impacted by a lack of sleep.
Grandmother Janice Poulson agrees with the idea of later start times in schools.
Her perspective is that later start times would aid traffic in Northland.
“It will help the traffic flow much better,” she believes.
Her grandchildren live rurally, and often have even earlier days than most students.
“They have to be at the letterbox by eight o’clock so by the time they get to school for a nine o’clock start,” she said.
