Pediatricians suggest starting school later to let kids sleep

(Image credit: iStock)

last updated 8 January 2015

The American Academy of Pediatricians has released a new report suggesting middle and high schools start later to allow young people to get more sleep.

The report, released Monday, found that later start times may be beneficial for both physical and mental health. The AAP studied youth sleep habits for almost four years, and found that less than eight and a half hours of sleep can be a contributing factor for diabetes, obesity, and Gbehavioral issues.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

"The evidence is clearly mounting both in terms of understanding the repercussions that chronic sleep loss has on the health, safety and performance of adolescents, and there is also really solid compelling data supporting the fact that delaying school start times is a very important intervention that can mitigate some of the impact of sleep loss," Dr. Judith Owens, director of sleep medicine at Children's National Medical Center and lead author of the report, told Time.

Explore More

Speed Reads

To continue reading this article...

Create a free account

Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.

Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.

Cancel or pause at any time.

Already a subscriber to The Week?

Unlimited website access is included with Digital and Print + Digital subscriptions.
with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.

Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us