Regardless, starting school a little later does show a dramatic difference in how teens feel, and I know that from raising 4 of them.

My kids had to get up by 6 to quickly get ready and meet the bus at 6:35 if they wanted a little sleep. If they wanted more time to get ready like a human being they would have to be up by 5:30 am. Class began at 7:40 am.

On days where they had a 2 hr. delay because of fog or snow, their moods were 100% different. Instead of dragging butt, and looking like they hate the day, they were more upbeat and had a much better day at school. Their performance in classroom work was better.

They had an appetite, and more time so they had breakfast before they went to school at the later time,.

When they went to school at the earlier time, they did not feel good and could not eat that early. Kids really would do much better all around if school started later, and I always felt that way even before this study and conversation

And because of the drastic changes I noted in my own kids between the two dfferent times, I have no doubt that the study is valid.

The study did not cover......HOW many parents allow their children to set up late watching the idiot box, playing games, talking on the cell phones...how may simply allow their kids to set their own bed times....the poor city kids...I remember and my kids remember getting up 4:30AM getting breakfast, going out to milk the cow, feed the chickens, the hogs, then getting ready for school, catching the bus at 6:00 for the 21 mile ride to school, (when they were old enough they started driving leaving the house around 6:10 for a start time of 7:30.....we didn't have the problems of accidents, students falling asleep in class...etc....This study is just one more example of attempting to give excuses instead of taking responsibility for ones own actions.

The study is not new and it is very accurate. Teens need more sleep and they need to sleep later than younger children. I live in Va Bch and wish the school district would switch the start times for the schools so that the elem kids go in early and the high schoolers start at 9am. And for all the folks that think it's because the kids stayed up late, the study A) states that the teens natural circadian rhythm keeps the teen up till 11pm. I have observed this in my extremely responsible, has always put himself to bed at a reasonable time, 16 yr old. And think back to when you were a teen. How did you function in the mornings?

The only reason teand would need to sleep later than the younger children is because they

1. Don't go to bed at a reasonable hour.

2. Set on their butts in front of the idiot box, game boxes etc....instead of getting up and doing something.

3. TOO MANY excues and not enough RESPONSIBILITY for self.

How about going to bed early enough to get a proper nights sleep???? MSNBC????

I remember scheduling my high school classes to start at 5:45 AM most days. And I would get the reward of being done with classes just a little after 12:00. But I don't ever remember falling asleep during class, on the way to or from school, or pretty much anywhere until later that night.

It just seems like what this society does best. And that is to find an excuse to point at so someone can say it was not their fault, it was my schools fault that I wasn't paying attention to what I was actually doing.

7:20 AM?? Seriously now. Why is it so , sooo necessary to start school in VA so early?

Two reasons: 1. So the teachers can get off early enough in the day to head on over to the beach and catch the afternoon sun to work on their tans -and - lastly: 2. So the Teachers, Students, Faculty (Pick one) can carry on with their illicit affairs before any parent discovers this breach of trust before any later hour that they'd return home from work.

Since they start so early, I'm guessing that they get off early, also! Come onnn...these are horny High-schoolers given waaa-a-a-ay too much unsupervised time later in the day. I'll bet if they conduct another study of drug / alcohol / teen pregnancy use...those stats would also be off the charts also!

Why is it necessary for classes to begin at 7:20 a.m. ? The kids are going to school to learn - they don't work in factories (at least not until after they graduate). Why doesn't the school day mirror most parents' working hours - 8 or 8:30 to 5 or 5:30 ? They get all summer off so it's not like they get no rest. If the teachers can't actually teach until 5:30, then the kids could have required study and homework completion from 3:30 to 5:30.

I was not lazy. I was not up watching TV and cell phones and Internet were not invented yet when I was in high school.

I had a lengthy school day and no school bus service. If I wanted to take a bus, I had to be on the street corner no later than 7:30 to catch a city bus. I was one of the unfortunate ones who had an 8:00 class each of my four years in high school. Many kids got to come to school to start at 8:50. I had to go until 3:10. After school activities? I had 2 until until 4:00 that met once a week or every other week, no sports. Then off to work (walking) until anytime between 7-9. My employer was not happy that once I turned 18 I would not work closing which meant not getting home until midnight. When I'd get home from work (again walking), there were chores....the cleanup and dishes left for me from dinner mainly--eventually, that was dropped, but it didn't matter. Then finally, homework. I got one study hall period in my day plus, 20 mins for lunch which barely got you through the lunch line, and that was it. So, I was often up until midnight or later anyway. And I had to shower the night before per rules of the house (adults were only ones to use shower in morning). So, again, midnight to bed, up at 6:30. Never got to eat breakfast really. It didn't take long for my body and mind to shut down to the ridiculous schedule and I was struggling to get up at 7. In my senior year, I missed that city bus so many times that my grade for the first marking period for that class that year dropped 20 points due to my frequent tardiness or just plain missing it. I ended up with in-school suspension when my number of tardies exceeded what was alloted in a year.Not once did anyone--parents or school-- ask "what's going on?"

Now as a mom of a child who in another year will have to catch a 6:50am school bus and not get home until 2:50, I worry about her. She already struggles to get up at 7, but she also loves to read and has issues getting herself to bed by 9, which we are working on. When she gets to middle school, I will drive her in when needed and I will not burden her with excessive chores so that she can have plenty of time for her homework. I've been there and I understand.

I doubt my school district would ever change start times. The backlash from elementary parents who already struggle to get their kids to daycare or even school by a certain time would be too huge. And the buses are probably out longer for the elementary runs. Could you imagine getting a kindergartener on a bus at 6:50am? My guy is up earlier than that so I could do it, but parents who need to get themselves to work probably couldn't handle it.

Nope. It stinks. It is what it is. Parents need to help their children out where they can. And realize with teenagers, not only is there physical changes, there could be lots of emotions running high and causing havoc (stress, depression, etc).

Maybe it comes down to one thing....PARENTS! Act the part!

or texting.

and not just the gals

Did you have early classes that you slept through? Because you apparently never learned how to read.

"Around puberty, the body's circadian rhythmshifts so that the brain doesn't get signals to sleep until 11 or 11:15 p.m. It doesn't matter how tired a kid is or what time he got up that morning."

You can learn to fall asleep at any time of the day/night.

Chris-1875452 . BULL....just one more excuse for not taking responsibility for ones own actions....

That is much of the problem with this nation today....make a wrong choice...sicence will find you and excuse...its mama's fault, its the schools fault, it is some churches fault....any one but the indivual.

I'll admit that as a teen I didn't always want to go to bed until later, but I still managed to fall asleep at 10 pm most nights.

"Around puberty, the body's circadian rhythmshifts so that the brain doesn't get signals to sleep until 11 or 11:15 p.m. It doesn't matter how tired a kid is or what time he got up that morning."

This is true, but it isn't controllable.

Stereotypes have root in truth, and one of them is that your natural sleep time does change throughout your life.

Older people go to bed earlier more naturally, and younger people stay up till 2/3 AM. "The hunt/Prowl/Party life." -

Now... adapting to work/school is not difficult, so yes... children can get to bed earlier. it really isn't all that difficult since people have been doing it for hundreds of years.

My question is... why are we trying to change something our body naturally wants to do?

The circadian rhythmshifts are put out of place during puberty but it is still possible to fall asleep. The only difference is that the person sleeping will not be rested when they wake up.

look at the top of the page see the place marked Tools? left click , left click again on Internet options, change home page from msn.com to foxnews.com. Now you don't have to see this left stream media you can just read the right stream media. Glad you left CA for good on May 3 2010 Arizona needs people like you. Your Bud NavyVet

Maybe someday I will be able to sleep in until 6am! I've already been up for 1 1/2 hours at 6am.

nibor . "But with bodies that can't fall asleep until close to midnight" So you bought into this excuse that is nothing more than that.....A LIE.

Exactly. All this suggests is that maybe the national driving age ought to be raised to 20.

That's exactly what I was thinking! I didn't get my license until I was 17 and in my senior year of high school, and even then, I don't think I learned to be an attentive, safe driver until my junior or senior year in college. And this was BEFORE the advent of everyone having a cell phone and especially texting. And my mom made sure I was in my bed at 9:30 at night.

That was actually my thought as well, there's a stronger correlation there. Great song, great screen name!

I've known a lot of kids who drove to school because they "have to" and not because of an actual after-school job. I've heard their parents saying "Their friends drive too." Well, those parents are idiots, don't ever keep up w/ the Joneses when it comes to stupidity. The more drivers on the road (especially inexperienced) the higher the probability of accidents.

Exactly...the school thing is a b.s. excuse, and shame on the person from the University of Minnesota trying to justify the excuse...she obviously doesn't keep up with the local news here because about a month or two back, there was a weekend where 10 people were killed on the roads as a result of teen drivers...a WEEKEND...hmmm, I didn't know there was school during the weekend ;)

Teens aren't the worse drivers out there if you really look at it. Other people are on the road too. And yes there are bad teen drivers but they all aren't bad! Maybe if there wasn't so much pressure on them they would be better.

Some school districts only allow kids to ride on buses until the fourth grade and others dont even have buses.

and talk about saving gas consumption in this country!!!

My bus would come at 6:30am with school starting at 7:35am. I could leave my house 40 minutes later by driving. Not to mention after school sports practices that went late and a parent couldn't pick me up. After getting back from practice and doing homework I wouldn't have a chance to go to bed until after 11p most nights (and I wouldn't be 'slacking off', I never had time for that). Not everyone should drive to school- you're right. But there are many cases where it is a necessity.

For me, the bus comes an hour before school begins. I can leave my house 15-20 minutes before school starts if I drive myself there. If a student has after school activities, they have the choice of seriously inconveniencing their parents by making them pick them up, taking the activities bus which leaves before many after school programs are over and would not take them near their homes, or getting into their own car and driving away. In my case, there is no other choice for me to drive because I attend high school part time and attend classes at a community college 10 miles away.

Once the average student gets home from school, they have at least 3-4 hours of homework to do in addition to things like eating dinner and taking a shower. People who have jobs typically don't have hours of work to do before they go to bed each night.

On average, I get about 5 hours of sleep a night. Some of my peers get less.

Are you kidding me?People who work also have laundry,gorcery shopping bill paying ,dishes,lawn mowing,carting the kids to the dentists etc.These are all chores by the way.So when you grow up this is what you can look forward to.Adults,most of us,never stop working everyday.Work doesn't stop because the whistle blows.

I live out of the bus service area for my high school (I'm in-district but I attend my high school because of the IB program). For my freshman and sophomore years the school provided us with free bus passes and I used public transportation to get to school. However, this year I have an earlier start time than most of my school (6:30 AM) because of a zero-period class, the bus passes have stopped being free, and even if they were I still would not be able to bus into school because my local routes that would get me there don't start running until 6:15 and I live an hour away by bus from my school (it takes me about 20 minutes to drive there). Thus, I have no choice but to drive myself.

I go grocery shopping all the time, take myself and siblings to the doctor and dentist appointments, do my own laundry and other chores, take my siblings to their soccer or swimming practices, and have a part time job. I have to find time to do a lot of necessary things in addition to the many hours of school I attend, both during the day and at night, and all the homework that accompanies it. I only get to sleep a few hours a night, even on the weekends, and like most teenagers, would be better off if school started an hour or so later.

No, make it 9-5 year round, just like a real job.

Well, that would be good, too. I was just thinking of the already conjested rush hour traffic in many places. Would just add to it, who wants to do the rush with a bunch of inexperienced teens on the road.

you two are absolutely ridiculous and pathetic. I pray you don't have children because by the sound of it, you would raise them under a nazi regime. get a life.

It would be nice to have 9 to 4 or 5, but the nation's economy relies too much on summer breaks.

By all means, I would have enjoyed and payed attention in school better if school started later and then ended later.

9-5 jobs still exist?

Like hell the schools are air-conditioned. I transfered halfway through high school and neither of those schools or any schools in the area for that matter were air-conditioned. The first school was the second largest in the area and generally graduated 300-400 a year and had no air-conditioning. The second was much smaller but also had no air-conditioning. And for the sake of the argument, only one school had heating that worked, and that was only in some rooms, and i graduated in 2008.

Funny thing that you said that, while I was serving our country in Vietnam and someone told us to take a 15 break, you learned real fast how to take a nap.

Yes you can.People who have their shifts constantly rotated do it everyday.You must be under 50 because I do not go to bed or get up at the same time everyday and it hasn't affected my health or sleep pattern.I'm self employed so when I go to bed,get up or get a coveted nap I fall asleep no problem.

Get up even earlier and go for a walk, it will wake you up and give you energy to start your day. Also, your employer won't have to pay to employee you during your "noon to 4 PM unproductive time".

I am going to try to walk in the morning. That' my goal for next week.

I'm productive between noon and 4pm, but not AS productive as the 4 to 8pm. Since I've managed to quadruple my salary from my first full time job, only 12 years ago, I must be doing something right :).

I have successfully raised three teenagers, all boys, Cell Phones got put on the kitchen counter at 9:30pm and Internet went off automatically at 10pm (homework always was done after dinner) School here starts at 8 and once a week this past year it started at 9. I was never afraid that they didn't get the sleep they needed bedtime was 10:30 figured by the time they got themselves settled in until 11 or so...these kids were up at 6 to be at school for early things and were very responsible when they have to be!

Why do kids have to grow up so fast...They should be doing things like sports or clubs or theater and music...instead we are demanding that they be perfect students and perfect kids who have to work as soon as they can to teach responsibility....Isn't the next 60-70 years going to be long enough for them to be responsible!

I hear ya.

AMEN!!!

I knew there were teens out there like you who are smart,mature,responsible and most importanly have common sense.Best wishes to you for your future endevours and happy safe driving.One word of advice.It is better to arrive where you are going a little late than to not arrive at all.

I knew there were teens out there like you who are smart,mature,responsible and most importanly have common sense.

I think most teens are actually pretty sensible; the media just likes to trumpet the 'bad' ones. That's what sells, not the good ones who act responsibly. Not to mention there have been people in every generation for literally millennia who like to think the one coming after them is going to "ruin everything" or be the "downfall of society". :)

Did you read the article at all? It isn't 'not going to bed earlier' that's the issue. Their bodies won't signal it's time to sleep until a later time.

Part of the reason is biological. Around puberty, the body's circadian rhythm shifts so that the brain doesn't get signals to sleep until 11 or 11:15 p.m. It doesn't matter how tired a kid is or what time he got up that morning.

"I've done focus groups with hundred and hundreds of kids over the years," Wahlstrom said. "They say, 'My mom says to go to bed, so I go in there and lay there and look at the ceiling until 11 o'clock, and all of a sudden I fall asleep.'"

The average teenager needs nine and a quarter hours of sleep, studies show. But with bodies that can't fall asleep until close to midnight and alarm clocks that sometimes go off before 6 a.m., it's no surprise that teens are falling asleep in class and behind the wheel.