Every morning when I get up and have to get ready for school and catch the bus at 6:55 I wonder why school has to start so early. Because for me that means I have to be up by no later than 6:30 so I can shower and check my backpack to make sure I have everything. On some of the days that I have sporting events such as baseball or wrestling, I won't get home until 9:30 to 10 o’clock which makes for some very long days when I have to wake up at 6:30. So I wonder Why can't they just push back the school day a little to give everyone a bit more time to sleep. It's not just us students organizations like the american academy of pediatrics according to an article published called school start time for adolescents published in September 2014 believe that middle schools and high schools should not start before 8:30 but would be best if they didn't start until 9 to give kids the proper sleep time. This article is that schools should start a little later in the morning.in this essay, I will be talking about California’s law on school start times, school performance, and overall health.

First in California, in October 2019 California governor Gavin Newsome passed a law that will go into effect in the 2022-2023 school year. The new law says middle schools cannot start before 8 am according to an article by the sleep foundation named how would later school start times affect sleep published on 2 /5/2021 written by Eric Suni claims that “kids 6-13 need 9-11 hours a sleep a night but 60% of middle schooler do not get that much sleep.” In that same bill passed it says the high school can not start before 8:30 but was strongly recommended by health authorities like the CDC to wait until 9 am this information comes from the same source as before the sleep foundation and it also says that high schoolers ages 14-17 need 8-10 hours of sleep but 70% do not get that amount of sleep. California is the first state to heed the call of health advocates, which is great that at least one state is listening to the health pros. From one state that started to the reasons others should.

Next school performance, first better grades. Kids' grades would be better if school was pushed back a little bit because if kids could sleep 30-45 minutes longer, studies show that more sleep increased attention, memory, and learning. If kids have better grades that will not only make them happier it will probably make their parents happy as well. Second, improved attendance if the school was later kids wouldn't feel like it was so early and some might start showing up to school more which would be better for everyone. According to an article by New York Times published on October 14 2019 states, “Research says attendance and performance will improve if teens get more sleep at night.” The next thought is less falling asleep during classes, according to an article by the sleep foundation updated on march 11 2022 named how would later school start times affect sleep. This article states that “sleeping in class can be a problem for some students and later start times would help the students.” If kids are awake during classes they will soak up all the information that they can comprehend. Finally, motor accidents, studies from sites like the CDC, sleep foundation, and many more have shown a decrease in motor accidents. They show that when school was pushed back one-hour minors crash rate was 16.5% less. More sleep helps performance the health benefits.

This final paragraph is about overall health, the first is students' physical health. Your physical health is very important, especially for the kids that are in sports and more sleep gives your body more time to rest and get ready for the next day of a sport or a game. The benefits of more sleep for sport translate to your physical health at school and being able to stay awake and actually soak up the info given by a teacher. Next is your mental health, mental health is one thing people don't want to forget about because your mental spirit determines your mood with teachers, family, and friends. Your mental health also ties into your physical well-being because if people don't think they can do something in your mind you're not going to be able to try something to the best of your ability. Lastly is less reliance on caffeine which would be great for teens' bodies not to be putting that in their body every day just to try and stay awake. When kids have caffeine they are awake at the moment but it's not the same as just getting the sleep teens need to be awake. All of these health and performance benefits make it worth pushing school back a little.

In conclusion, I talked about California's law on school start times, performance at school and the benefits of more sleep, and the overall health of teens with more sleep. This is why school should start later in all states, not just in California. These are the reasons school should start later to give all teens a little more sleep so they can be the best version of themselves all day at school and even in after-school events and sports for me that being baseball and wrestling. It's not just kids that think school should start later to give themselves more time to sleep, it's health organizations as well. According to an article by Stanford children's health called 70% of high schoolers aren't getting enough sleep published by Amy Brooks on 8-21-2019 says that only 3 out of 10 high school students get enough sleep. So finally, kids may be able to set back their alarm clocks and have a better chance to get more sleep.