Pediatricians' Rx for schools: Later start times

Sleep is so frequently overlooked. Insufficient sleep can be a significant contributor to depression, anxiety, difficulty with sustained attention or concentration (ADHD), or behavioral problems. Many times these difficulties also interfere with people's ability to get sustained sleep which can exacerbate the problem. For more resources on depression or anxiety please visit my website: www.drcharlesdavenport.com.

 

Pediatricians have a new prescription for schools: later start times for teens.

Delaying the start of the school day until at least 8:30 a.m. would help curb their lack of sleep, which has been linked with poor health, bad grades, car crashes and other problems, the American Academy of Pediatrics says in a new policy.

The influential group says teens are especially at risk; for them, "chronic sleep loss has increasingly become the norm."

Studies have found that most U.S. students in middle school and high school don't get the recommended amount of sleep — 8½ to 9½ hours on school nights; and that most high school seniors get an average of less than seven hours.

More than 40 percent of the nation's public high schools start classes before 8 a.m., according to government data cited in the policy. And even when the buzzer rings at 8 a.m., school bus pickup times typically mean kids have to get up before dawn if they want that ride...

 

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20140825/wire/140829813

 

Reposted by:

 

Charles R. Davenport, Psy.D. 

Licensed Psychologist

Charles R. Davenport, Psy.D. LLC.

Offices Sarasota and Venice

 

Phone: 941-321-1971

www.drcharlesdavenport.com