At the end of last August the American Academy of Pediatrics made recommendations that echoed in the United States and the United Kingdom, however here we have not read much about this issue, and I would like to help spread a different vision about Child sleep hours, related to the start time of classes.
First, we will remember how to get enough sleep affects school performance, although it is not only advisable good sleep hygiene for that reason, since it is shown as a factor in preventing psychotic experiences ... And let's recognize that we are talking about a basic need, not luxury, since any of us is in a better mood, and our brain works better if we have rested.
All this comes to some reflections on the time (for many too early) in which children - from Secondary, and those who do Continuous Day - enter their classes in schools or Institutes. From the AAP, they ensure that getting enough sleep at night can be difficult for teenagers, with natural sleep cycles that make it difficult for them to fall asleep before 23 hours, and must be in class at 8 hours (at 7.30 or earlier in the USA).
The bedtime and waking schedules are delayed until approximately 19 and a half years, and it is not that they insist on not closing their eyes at 10 at night, it is that a confluence of melatonin, cortisol and sex hormones occurs, causing this modification in the cycles. As I read in The Huffington Post, which in turn quotes many well-documented sources, the alarm clock at 7 in the morning in a teenager, it is as if I put it at 5, that is, I would get up if there is no remedy , But at what price!
AdvertisingOther sleep rhythms and the same need to get good performance
This is adolescence, a stage that many conceptualize as an important vital crisis in the transition to adulthood; plus a moment of confluence of changes of all kinds that will influence not only their present development, but the future people they will be.
Russell Foster is the main author of an article published in The New Scientist, and the author of some curious statements during a conference, which aroused interest as well as some controversy (which is always good, no doubt).
Mr. Foster states that it's a cruelty that teenagers start their classes soon, and the man is not telling them to schedule fewer subjects, or to reduce their workload. He is saying that lack of sleep affects performance, and taking into account what you have read above, there should be a uniform and generalized position to favor this change in schedules. It also speaks of schools that set the standard for changing schedules.
How they could be organized is already the task of the educational centers, I imagine that it would not be excessively complicated given that I attended Secondary School on a split schedule (except the last year), I mean that it is not an experience that would be adopted for the first time.
It seems that because of the studies carried out, in general, adolescents are going to bed later than they should, but only because of hormonal changes? Of course not, because today they also have a lot of interference in their sleep because of their presence in the Social Networks and the use of devices (sometimes excessive homework or poor organization of school work may also influence)
A serious problem but easy to solve
The loss of sleep in the pediatric population is a concern that is the order of the day among child health professionals, so much that there are few attempts to rationalize the hours of entering schools. An example of this is the “School start times for adolescents” statement prepared by pediatrician Judith Owens.
And is that lack of sleep could also be the cause of problems of overweight, and even depression, in general sleep is considered as an element of quality of life; that is, the latter will be better or worse depending on the rest.
In the United States, classes can start very early - more than here - but if we adopt the recommendations, we are also doing well to our students: Start at 9 instead of 8 in Secondary, would be a change that would imply a major reorganization, but in return you would get an important quality of life in children, and in general better performance.
The goal is that they could reach sleep a minimum of 8 hours: if we take into account that it may be difficult for them to sleep before 23 hours, and that they should wake up at 7 or before, depending on the distance between the school and their home ... the accounts do not go out.
How important are our children?
I do not say that everything should revolve around children and adolescents, but let's accept that today - and with exceptions - you don't think about them when planning anything. If you talk about school times, the work and family conciliation that is not really, and the parents' schedules, are brought up; We may also enter into the topic of working hours of teachers - who have as much right to try to improve their conditions as any other group, on the other hand -.
But sometimes it is also about improving the conditions in which children develop, because they are the ones who will suffer from lack of sleep, or will accuse the non-presence of parents at home when they arrive, or ... To think about them is also to do it in the future of all.
I mentioned Dr. Russell Foster above, and now I tell you that when he is asked, he says that starting at 8:30 would be a difference, but better if schedules were changed to start classes at 10 am
The question is, are we prepared to assume those changes? Or better yet, do we want them? But let's also ask, do the youngest need them? Do we think it is important to consider children and their needs?
As we have said, it is in the United States and the United Kingdom that this issue is raised (right now I don't know the school hours in other countries except ours). The point is that there is increasing evidence of how teenagers' brains work, and how it influences their sleep, that is, even in a very natural state and imagining that they did not have so many interferences, they would still need to sleep and get up later than young children and adults.
Images | Franklin Park Library, MC Quinn, Colleen
Via | The Huffington Post, BBC
More information | American Academy of Pediatrics, The News Scientist
In Peques and More | Creating reasonable sleep habits ... also in adolescence, Sleep helps children transform learning into active knowledge
