Waking up at around 6am to prepare yourself for an eight hour school day that begins at 7:50am can be exhausting. Especially for the Vikes here at Downey High School. With clubs, extracurricular activities, advanced placement classes and loads of homework, students are barely getting enough sleep. 

How much sleep should students be getting? Teenagers are recommended to sleep anywhere between 8-10 hours per 24 hours of the day. The reasoning behind teenagers needing more sleep than the average person is due to them experiencing a second developmental stage of cognitive maturation, according to the John Hopkins Medicine facility. Meeting this goal of 8-10 hours of sleep per night also aids students in avoiding depression or substance abuse. According to the CDC, teenagers who aren’t sleeping enough can potentially develop unhealthy habits like: no engagement in school, poor academic performance and no form of physical activity. Enough sleep is a fundamental necessity amongst humans, and teenagers demand a higher amount of sleep than any other age group. 

In an interview with Daniela Garcia, 12, she was asked to express her opinion on how starting school at a later time will benefit the students’, in which she responded, “Students will definitely get more sleep. I feel like after distance learning many students messed up their sleeping schedule and never had the chance to fix it”,Garcia further explained, “Getting more sleep will benefit students and improve their academic performance considering they will be more rested and with more energy.”

Unfortunately, the talk about changing start time for school has been under debate for a while now and will most likely be enforced within future generations. Managing ASB and AP classes that come with the excessive studying and homework, Garcia states that, “All of the homework and meeting deadlines can be exhausting. I feel like sometimes I don’t have enough time in a single day and I find myself sleeping past midnight in order to make sure all of my assignments are completed on time. I think I speak for all of us when I say that we will appreciate a little more sleep to recharge and rest.”

You heard it from a fellow Vike here first. Adapting a schedule that extends the start time of school will promote a healthier lifestyle amongst students and an overall higher academic performance, according to CDC statistics.