Blog Post - "Argumentative Essay" (9/14/17 - 9/15/17)

ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY

Do you feel groggy in the morning? If you answered yes to this question, then are you a teenager? If you answered yes to this question, then note that you're not the only one—scientists have concluded that getting less sleep in the morning puts teenagers (and of course, other individuals outside the age group) at higher risk of traffic accidents. It has also been proven that sleep deprivation can result in poor academic scores. A National Sleep Foundation Poll has concluded that 28% of the teenagers who took the poll have fallen asleep in class due to lack of sleep.

The reason? Early school times! Most schools have their start times before 8:30, which means that most kids wake up at around 7:00-8:00 to get ready for school, and this is just excluding the extra curriculum activities that start before school hours. For example, I do Zero-Period Band and the start time is at 7:10. This means that I have to get up at 6:00 to get ready—cram in the homework that I forgot to put in my backpack last night, etc. However, my chronotype is 1:40, meaning that the time that I'm actually awake is 5:40. But for others, they might have more trouble waking up in the morning.

And actually, studies have included that sleep deprivation can worsen disorders, such as depression, and can lead to more suicide attempts. Another thing that makes my point is the fact that teenagers are going through puberty and are experiencing something called "phase-delay". Phase-delay is when someone goes to bed and falls asleep at a considerably later time than what is called "average" sleep time. For example, if someone went to bed at 10:00 and fell asleep at 1:30, then that means that they would be sleeping from 1:30 to whatever time that they are forced to get up. Most teenagers go through this while others are still struggling with their chronotype, seeing as it can waver between the days, whereas an adult's chronotype is at a fixed point of about 4:30.

Third, sleep deprivation can also lead to obesity, and, as I've mentioned before, lead to suicide, worsen disorders, and put teenagers at a higher risk of traffic accidents. "Chronic sleep loss in children and adolescents is one of the most common—and easily fixable—public health issues in the U.S. today," said Judith Owens, a pediatrician and the lead author of the AAP's "School Start Times for Adolescents" report. She continues with, "Studies have shown that delaying early school start times is one key factor that can help adolescents get the sleep they need to grow and learn." And also, changing the start times to after 8:30 would align the chronotypes of teenagers, seeing as once puberty begins, their chronotype is shifted by two hours. 

Once again, classes should start at a later time, seeing as the consequences of sleep deprivation are the worsening of disorders, suicide attempts, obesity, and it puts teenagers at higher risks of traffic accidents, not to mention that sleep deprivation leads to poor academics, which means that they won't be able to go to a good college because of their poor grades. These are my reasons for why I believe that school should start later. What do you think? Do you want school start later, and why? Think about it: if the school starts later, would you be just helping yourself, or would the time change benefit a majority of the students/staff?