There are many compelling reasons to change school start times to promote better sleep for students. However, it is important not to overwhelm people with too much information at once. Here are some ideas of simple talking points that summarize essential ideas about adolescent sleep that are detailed throughout the toolkit materials. You can incorporate these discussion points into a presentation, hearing, or meeting.

• Sleep is a basic necessity of life, as important to our health and wellbeing as food and water.
  
• Sleep affects every part of one’s life, including health, safety, mood, learning, appearance, relationships and productivity.
  
• Less sleep does NOT equal more time.
  
• Every person is unique, but experts recommend that teens get 8.5-9.5 hours of sleep.
  
• 85% of teens get less than 8.5 hours of sleep per night.
  
• The irregular sleep patterns of most teens have a negative impact on their quality of sleep.
  
• Sleep is not a passive process. During sleep tissue growth and repair occurs, energy is restored, hormones that control growth and appetite are secreted, among many other processes.
  
• Sleep is regulated by two body systems: sleep/wake homeostasis and the circadian biological clock. Most teens experience a change to their circadian rhythm which results in a sleep phase delay. This means teens naturally feel ready for sleep around 1112 pm, making it very difficult for teens with early school start times to get the sleep they need.
  
• Sleep and learning are intimately related. Sleep deprivation impairs ability to pay attention, creativity, communication, abstract thinking, problemsolving, innovation, decisionmaking, mood and motivation.
  
• 100,000 motor vehicle crashes each year are caused by fatigued drivers, and over half of these by drivers between the ages of 16-25.
  
• Drowsy driving is dangerous—being awake for 18 hours is equal to a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08%, above the legal limit.
  
• Sleep Deprivation and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) share many symptoms, and many cases of chronic sleep deprivation are misdiagnosed as ADHD.
  
• Many people with ADHD also suffer from sleep disorders and should undergo a sleep study to diagnose and treat the problem.
  
• Extreme changes in sleep patterns – sleeping significantly more or less than usual – can indicate depression.
  
• Insomnia is sometimes indicated as a trigger for depression, but depression is also considered one of the most prevalent causes of insomnia.
  
• Many symptoms of sleep deprivation are similar to symptoms of depression.
  
• Napping can be an important tool to help teens be more productive, but a nap does not replace nighttime sleep.
  
• Scientific research documents the critical role that sleep plays in all aspects of growth, learning and wellbeing. Yet it is often left out at school. Sleep can and must be included in the curriculum at all levels, and in many subjects. Sleep should be included in science, psychology, health, math, and English classes.
  
• Millions of Americans suffer from sleep disorders, and many symptoms begin to appear in adolescence. If you notice problems with your sleep, or feel chronically sleepy during the day, talk to your doctor about sleep and ask about seeing a sleep specialist.

Testimonials

Use the following testimonials from real people about the issue of school start times.

Experts

“Any review of adolescent lifestyles in our society will reveal more than a dozen forces converging to push the sleep/arousal balance away from sleep and toward everhigher arousal. What harm could there be in trying to push back a little toward valuing sleep?” — Ronald Dahl, MD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

“Sleep occupies one third of our lives and scientific research documents the critical role that sleep plays in all aspects of growth, learning and wellbeing.” – Helene Emsellem, MD, Medical Director, Center for Sleep and Wake Disorders, Chevy Chase, Maryland

“The students may be in school, but their brains are at home on their pillows.’’ — Mary Carskadon, PhD, E.P. Bradley Hospital Sleep Research Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown University School of Medicine

“We just ignore these bad feelings from not enough sleep and get used to it. We forget what it’s like to feel good, and how much more efficiently you can do things.” — Mary Carskadon, PhD, E.P. Bradley Hospital Sleep Research Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown University School of Medicine

“Many US schools require an early start time for teenagers, imposing a nonnegotiable premature end of nighttime sleep.” — Mary Carskadon, PhD, E.P. Bradley Hospital Sleep Research Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown University School of Medicine

“Teenagers that do not get enough sleep have worse grades, more depression, anxiety, irritability, and somatic complaints; poorer attendance; and a greater tendency toward delinquency and violence.” — William C. Dement, MD, PhD, Stanford University

“Allowing students to start school later would provide them with the extra sleep they need to improve concentration. It would also help keep them off the streets from 3:006:00 pm, peak hours for juvenile crime.” — Representative Zoe Lofgren, D-California

“It’s because of this stupid, insane school policy, that makes them start two hours before they should have to start. It doesn’t make sense, and it’s done to accommodate the convenience of people whose first priority is obviously not the education of our children.” — Representative James Moran, D-Virginia

“Starting high school later to accommodate teens’ later sleepwake cycle and incorporating sleep topics into curricula are two potential policy approaches for addressing this problem. In a recent NSF national survey, almost three out of four parents with children at home favored teaching students about sleep as an important health priority, and many also support later school starting times.” – National Sleep Foundation

“Changing school start times cannot be done successfully without also teaching students, parents, and teachers about the importance of sleep. … Students need to be educated about the need to stick to a reasonable bedtime, even if school starts later in the morning. Otherwise, many kids will say, ‘Oh great, I can stay up an extra hour and a half,’ and students will again be sleep deprived.” — Mary Carskadon, Ph.D., E.P. Bradley Hospital Sleep Research Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown University School of Medicine

Students

“I’m not hungry yet — I rarely am in the morning — so I pass the few minutes before I have to leave by reading the newspaper, trying to prod my mind out of its foggy state. When I hear a horn blare, I’m off to school, just as groggy as when I woke up.” —Student

"If a teen really wants to be less tired, he or she will have to make the necessary effort to get enough sleep. That’s not really what I want to hear, but as we teens are constantly finding out, that’s just the way things are.” — Student

“School should be intellectually challenging, not physically challenging. Getting up so early gives us something very physically difficult to do which depletes our energy left for learning and thinking.” — Student

“The purpose of high school is to help students learn, not make it difficult to learn... The current schedule does the opposite of what high school should do — the schedule should reflect a high value for learning, instead of values for the convenience of sports.” — Student

“A lot of the time, I’m tired during the day. I miss a lot of lecture notes unfortunately, because it’s hard to pay attention for that long when you’re tired. I think school starts too early or maybe I’m not even getting enough sleep.” — Student

“I don’t understand how the school system expects you to be up and your brain power is supposed to be working at 7:20 in the morning. I think sleep deprivation is one of the biggest issues of schools.” — Student

“The change is really nice, because I feel ready to learn when I get to school in the morning.” — Student

Parents

“Waking my two teenagers for school in the mornings is nearly impossible. Half the time I find them back in bed after they’ve assured me they’re awake. On weekends, if the phone rings before Noon, we know it’s for us – our kids and their friends are never up that early.” — Parent

“Teachers have to carry squirt guns in class to keep students alert.” — Parent

“We were naive not to realize that everything revolves around the school schedule.” — Parent

“The transition was amazingly smooth. As much as people thought it would, the sky did not fall.” — Parent

“Because school starts so early the kids finish their school day much too early. For some kids this is a problem because they have too much unsupervised time after school. It would be better for them if they got home closer to the evening hour, where their parents are also arriving home about the same time.” — Parent

“It is depressing (not to mention dangerous) to leave for school in the dark. Although my child gets rigorous exercise daily, she complains that she can’t get to sleep at 11pm. She sleeps in her clothes sometimes to get more sleep in the morning so that she can wait until the last possible minute to walk out the door.” — Parent

“The issue hits me in the face every single day when my zombified 14 year old son leaves for school. I think he might be awake by 3rd period...maybe.” — Parent

Educators

“Students being absent for the first hour is a significant problem for our high school. So is trying to teach kids whose eyes are shut or whose heads are down on the desk.” — Teacher

“Later start times for middle schools and high schools are most definitely more advantageous for the students – it’s the teachers who complain. It would be wise to keep later start times – it benefits more people!” — Teacher

“Don’t let the tail wag the dog! After school sports are a problem – lots of kids leave 6th hour – but isn’t it more important that students be alert for AM classes?” — Teacher

“It has been the single most significant thing we have done recently to improve student morale and attitudes. Sleep deprivation creates nervous, anxious, and exhausted students, not the type our teachers like to encounter in their classrooms.” — Kenneth Dragseth, superintendent of schools in Edina, Minnesota

“If I wanted to get the students at the high school to protest strongly about an issue, all I would have to do is to change back to the early start time at the high school. Students express that they are less tired, are more focused, get better grades, and are more alert throughout the day than under an earlier schedule. They comment that it fits their biological clock and makes them more rested.” — Kenneth Dragseth, superintendent of schools in Edina, Minnesota

“Parents comment on the lack of stress in the morning at home due to a more leisurely preparation time for school. They find their children less stressed and more focused on school.” — Kenneth Dragseth, superintendent of schools in Edina, Minnesota

“…the CIAC (Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference) believes that athletic leagues will continue to promote their activities in a manner which will support sound efforts to enhance optimum learning opportunities. To do less would be to elevate high school athletics to an importance greater than that which is it’s true purpose…” — Office of Superintendent of Schools, Wilton, Connecticut by David, Clune, PhD, Chronology and Strategy for Later School Start Times, December 2003

“Whatever benefits the students – I will support.” — Teacher

“We’re seeing our attendance is up and our tardiness is down.” — Peter F. Flynn, superintendent of schools in Fayette County, Kentucky