Teenagers And Sleep: Early School Starts Don't Let Them Get Enough Rest

The start of school is literally just around the corner.

New information from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report  shows that most teenagers in the United Stats start the school day too early; this might explain, perhaps, why they're too tired to focus sometimes or lying their head on their desk.

Furthermore, the CDC states that only one in five middle and high schools in the United States start at 8:30 a.m. or later, as recommended, with information from the American Academy of Pediatrics adding that adolescents are biologically programmed to stay asleep even longer than adults.

What's even worse is that sleep-deprived teens are more likely to be overweight and depressed. Furthermore, they're more likely to do worse in school , as well as turn to drugs, tobacco or alcohol.

As it stands, the CDC recommends that adolescents get at least nine hours of sleep every night. Developing brains need that kind of rest to grow and to thrive, particularly when learning in an educational setting.

According to the National Institute of Health, teen brains go through quite a bit of changes before they reach adulthood. Scans reveal that late changes in the volume of gray matter, which forms the thin, folding outer layer or cortex of the brain, is where the processes of outer layer or cortex forms--which combines thoughts and memories. Over the course of childhood, the volume of gray matter in the cortex increases and then declines. Of course, a decline in volume is normal at this age and is in fact, a necessary part of maturation.

Further research reveals that the high point of volume gray matter occurs during early adolescence. Though the details behind these changes in volume via the scans are not entirely clear, the results reveal a bit more about the time-line of brain maturation into adolescence and young adulthood, making sleep and rest a critical period in adolescence and on into adulthood.

Unfortunately, many surveys show that just about eight or nine percent of teens are getting the recommended eight to nine hours a night. And as teenagers' brains are typically wired to stay up past 11 p.m., starting school later in the day would help them accomplish that.

To learn more about when your child's school day ranks in the states, check out this map, courtesy of The Washington Post.

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