Research into teenage brain development has yielded
surprising results. For many years it was thought that the adolescent brain was
basically fully developed, however new and powerful brain imaging has revealed
that the teenage years are a particularly crucial time for memory development
and learning. It has also been discovered that sleep patterns have a great
effect on maximizing their learning potential. Top private secondary schools in
Toronto have taken note of these findings and have implemented changes in their
schedules to help high school students excel.
Delayed School Start
Times Bring Academic Success
A study by the Journal of Sleep Research found that about
one-third of Canadian students, between the ages of 10 and 18, did not meet
sleep recommendations, and about 60 per cent reported feeling tired when going
to school in the morning. According to the Canadian
24-hour movement guidelines, children
between 5 and 13 should get nine to 11 hours a sleep a night, and teens between
14 and 17 should get eight to 10 hours of sleep.
Yet almost all schools begin classes between 8:30 a.m. and
9:00 a.m. and end in the early to mid-afternoon. It’s now known that sleep
cycles shift forward during the teenage years, due to changes in the body’s
circadian rhythms. Sleep occurs after the hormone melatonin, which causes
drowsiness, is released. An average adult’s brain releases melatonin at around
9:00 p.m. Its effects wear off by early morning. During puberty, however, the
effects of melatonin aren’t felt until after 11:00 p.m. This delay means that a
teen’s natural inclination is to fall asleep later at night and to sleep later
into the morning.
Since it’s best to begin learning about two hours after
waking, the optimal time for teenagers to learn is late in the morning through
to late afternoon. An ideal school schedule for teens is a class timetable that
starts at about 10:00 a.m. and continues until after 4:00 p.m.
Teens Need Later
School Start Times
While most school boards and administrators are aware of these
sleep cycle discoveries, the vast majority of schools still require teenagers
to be at school before 9:00 a.m. The
Toronto District School Board has initiated a couple of pilot projects on the
matter, but the public schools system is large and unwieldy and there are more
pressing issues for the board to deal with. Most Toronto private schools have
also stuck with early schedules, perhaps for the convenience of teachers or
parents, but a few innovative private secondary schools in Toronto have made the
change to a late-morning class start. These schools have observed a noticeable
improvement in the academic performance of their teenage students, as well as a
marked adjustment in students’ morning energy and attitude. School
administrators also note fewer incidences of late slips and absences.
When students get the optimum nine hours of sleep that is
recommended by experts, they come to school ready to focus and to fully
participate. They feel better about themselves and they function better on all
levels. Parents and teachers note improvements in their social interactions and
in their grade-point averages. It seems that the best secondary schools in
Toronto have found one of the keys to unlocking student potential.
For most adolescents, later starts lead to greater success.