BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

It’s 5:30 a.m., and all around the North Allegheny School District, alarms jolt teens from their dreams. They wake up, contemplate life choices, then groggily crawl out of bed, sometimes eat breakfast, and try to catch the school bus in time.

Sleep deprivation, whether due to late-night homework, anxiety-induced insomnia or simply an impossible schedule, puts high schoolers at risk for serious, long-lasting effects on their health, safety and academic performance. According to the National Library of Medicine, sleep deprivation affects not only academic performance, but also leads to agitation, irritability and an inability to concentrate on tasks.

The solution is clearer than one may think: push back school start times.

A survey conducted of a random sample of students at North Allegheny Intermediate High School showed that, with the district’s current 7:23 a.m. high school start time, more than 90% of students are not getting sufficient sleep. Many school buses arrive to students’ stops before 6:30 a.m. For some, taking the bus is the only option.

One sophomore stated, “My school bus comes at 6:05, so I have to wake up even earlier before then. My family isn’t able to drive me to school in the morning, so it’s basically my only choice.”

Students said they struggle to get enough rest to feel alert and awake. In the survey, 94.7% of students reported feeling exhaustion or fatigue throughout the day, as well as feeling inadequately rested in the morning.

And that is only the beginning.

Nearly half of survey participants reported having trouble falling asleep at night due to stress and schoolwork.

“Honestly, sometimes the thought of not getting enough sleep and having to get up early keeps me awake at night,” another student said. “It’s really not helped by all of my crazy homework assignments, either.”

For student athletes, a later school start time would make a crucial difference. Grace Thomas, a sophomore on the rowing team, said, “I have rowing every evening from 4-8, and I’m usually really, really sore from that, so when I don’t get enough sleep, it’s always incredibly hard to wake up in time to catch the bus.”

Nearly 45% of surveyed students report falling asleep in class as common. Nearly 80% said their mental/emotional/physical health and academic performance were negatively affected by sleep deprivation.

It is important to note that students’ sleep deprivation is not due to bad time management, but rather the difficult school schedule.

A school community should prepare students for success, but students cannot be prepared if they are exhausted. The lasting effects reach far into students’ academic performance.

To solve this issue, the district could consider one of the following two solutions:

1. Switching start times for middle and high schools.

For the typical student, middle school takes place for the least amount of years. Even if the earlier start time may pose a challenge, elementary and high school are both sustained for much longer periods of time.

In high school, many student athletes also begin competing seriously in sports, participating in extracurricular activities and taking on a more rigorous academic schedule. Sleep is even more crucial during this time; flunking a high school test due to inadequate sleep and concentration is much more significant than flunking a middle or elementary school test.

2. Increasing the district transportation budget and adding more buses.

With additional buses, the district could transport high school students to school at a later time, instead of running three rounds of buses (for elementary and middle school, with high school being the earliest).

Students are actively voicing their dissatisfaction with the current 7:23 a.m. school start time.

“During the summer I don’t need to use melatonin as much to be able to get enough sleep to function,” one sophomore said. “I have had to quit my sport because most of the practices were later in the evening, so I couldn’t get enough sleep and do them at the same time.”

Another sophomore states, “(When) you don’t get enough sleep for months and months on end, it really shows in your performance. I don’t have the energy during school to actually do work and pay attention. I find myself just closing my eyes or just staring off into space, tuning out everything around me.”

The school district does not poll students as a whole, and the issue of sleep is rarely mentioned. The student body has little if any say in the school schedule, which essentially runs their lives.

Whatever the solution may be, it is crucial that there be change.

Hallie Dong is a student at North Allegheny High School.

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