The majority of American adolescents experience insufficient quality and quantity of sleep due to various biological and sociocultural factors, including very early high school start times. Additionally, many high schools begin their school day before the recommended 8:30 am, making it difficult to compensate for changing adolescent sleep needs. Adolescents who do not obtain enough quality sleep are at risk for physical and mental health concerns, such as daytime sleepiness and impaired ability to handle stress, as well as impaired occupational participation in roles such as being a student, an athlete, and a worker. This program contains a presentation to educate school district administrators on adolescent sleep factors and needs. The presentation additionally educates administrators about strategies for delaying high school start times to better support adolescent sleep. The program also gives an optional framework for school districts to trial modestly delayed start times for one school quarter as a way of gauging long-term feasibility of permanently adopting healthier secondary school start times.

There is a noticeable difference in the debate regarding adolescents’ sleep patterns between the biological clock and society’s clock when we talk about adolescents. Sleep scientists or somnologists, are alarming as more evidence reach the surface that young people are not getting the recommended sleep that is required to perform academically well. Not only are there direct connections between sleep deficit and academic performance, but sleep deficit also takes a critical toll upon their physical and mental health. The problem is that adolescents’ circadian cycle is postponed with a few hours compared to children and adults. This results in a major sleep deficit when adolescents must adjust to societal rhythms and habits – a clock they are not programmed biologically to follow. Adolescents must attend to school in the early morning, when in reality their needs point to that school times in fact should start around 10:00. Society’s view has traditionally been that teenagers are lazy but in fact evidence does prove that it may not be the case. The following essay will therefore serve as an informative update to what has been stated by somnologists and raise awareness regarding adolescents and what happens when they are exposed to a chronic sleep deficit put on them by society.