Impact of School Start Times on Performance in Higher Education

School is a pivotal part of children’s lives from adolescence to college. School schedules and activities revolving around school make a big impact on students' mental health which can either be detrimental or nourishing. The scheduling of a school day can be used to promote productivity and mental health in students, however this is not the case. The most recent research shows that current school schedules are a hindrance to the mental health of students all around the world which is in turn detrimental to academic success because they cause sleep deprivation, mental health disorders, and therefore, lower test scores.  

School schedules are currently centered around starting very early in the morning and ending in the afternoon, however with all the extra homework and extracurriculars students often have, school is a large reason why children are getting insufficient sleep. Experts have already discovered the positive effects of changing school schedules which suggests that current schedules are not fully optimized. Xiaoning Zhang, in his article about the correlation between school schedules and sleep explained “Research in the US has demonstrated “that a 30-min school start time delay is associated with improved nocturnal sleep duration and reduced napping in adolescents”(Zhang et al.) Along with this fact, a study by Lucas M. Neuroth showed only 22% of high school students in the US get the recommended 8 hours of sleep with normal school start times, but high schools that have start times delayed to 8:30 A.M report around 60% of students getting the recommended amount of sleep(Neuroth et al.). Both Zhang and Neuroth have found evidence that shows schools are sacrificing optimal sleep for students for just a 30 minute difference in start time. This problem is not just in US high schools, it is in colleges in the UK too. A study by Rebecca Stores in tb ,kjhe Journal of Higher and Further Education reported 70% of UK college students having less than the optimal 8 hours of sleep during the week(Stores et al.). This study is just one example of many schools not optimizing schedules towards students' sleep schedules, and this can be detrimental to the students’ mental health as well as their academic performance.

The sleep students get does not only affect their mood in the morning, it provides the ability to keep a stable mental health as well as function properly throughout the day, and when students get insufficient sleep, there can be detrimental effects to their mental health. Anxiety and depression are caused by not sleeping enough and having too much stress from school. This was clearly shown by Almarazouki in his brain sciences article where he stated, "Worse sleep overall was significantly correlated with increased symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress. These symptoms were all correlated with increases in sleep disturbances and worse daytime dysfunction”(Almarzouki et al.). This shows that insufficient sleep can not only make you feel tired but also decrease motivation resulting in other issues regarding academics. Valentina Alfonsi also highlights studies in her article relating insufficient sleep to “increased mental and emotional dysfunction, depressive symptomatology, and poor academic performance”(Alfonsi et al.). Both Alfonsi and Almarazouki have similar findings in their studies about how not getting enough sleep negatively impacts mental health; however Almarouzki did not discuss the implications of these issues. The depressive and anxiety-inducing symptoms of insufficient sleep can lead to suicidal behaviors in teens as well as college students. In fact, according to Alfonsi, the emotional regulation changes due to sleep deprivation was a key factor in increased suicidal attempts by students(Alfonsi et al.). Sleep loss is a major contributor to the mental health decline in students which results in depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts, but the academic impact of sleep loss is also massive.

Daytime functioning and mental health are both significantly impaired by sleep loss, and this in turn contributes to lower test scores worldwide. Studies in China and Saudi Arabia report lower test scores due to sleep loss from schools starting too early. This was exemplified in Zhang’s article where he described how students who had a lower sleep-impairment score were the highest scorers in academic performance, while the students who had higher sleep-impairment did not do as well(Zhang et al.). This meant that students who did not sleep as well did much worse than the students who did not experience any sleep-impairment. These findings by Zhang highlight the global scope of sleep-impairment and how it affects academic performance. In another study by Fiona Davidson, there were similar findings about the effects of sleep on testing performance. For example, "Omission errors on the CPT- II were significantly increased during the Restricted condition, indicating that participants were either too slow to respond, or failed to respond to target stimuli"(Davidson et al.). This test was meant for students with ADHD which shows another group of individuals that are greatly affected by sleep loss, however the results from this study may be slightly different due to the different cognitive functioning methods in students with ADHD. This adds to Zhang’s results showing some of the specific academic factors  like stimuli reaction and the ability to read carefully that may have been affected by sleep impairment. Another example of how school schedules can have a massive impact is in an article by Ignacio Estevan where he states “Sleep  duration was longer in students of the afternoon-shift with respect to morning-shift ones. We also found that students’ performance was significantly higher in later shifts with respect to early ones. The enhanced performance of late-shift studentsis more likely due to their long sleep duration” (Estevan et al.). Estevan’s finding is parallel with Zhang and Davidson which suggests schools in many areas are facing the same problems with a lack of performance due to sleep impairment. Sleep is important not just for everyday academic tasks but also for testing, and the correlation between sleep and testing provides an insight into how detrimental sleep is on overall academic performance, especially since test scores are an essential part to advancing one’s career.

Current school schedules are detrimental to the sleep, mental health, and academic achievement of high school and college students. Studies around the world have shown correlations between longer sleep and better performance as well as mental health stability. However, this contradicts with the fact that schools are starting earlier and ending later, contributing to sleep loss in students. If schools continue with their current schedules and continue to ignore the research, students’ mental health will continue to decline from losing sleep. This begs the question, are schools really trying to maximize their students’ potential?

WORKS CITED

Alfonsi, Valentina, et al. "Later School Start Time: The Impact of Sleep on Academic Performance and Health in the Adolescent Population." International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, vol. 17, no. 7, 2020, pp. 2574. ProQuest, doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17072574.

Almarzouki, Abeer F., et al. “The Impact of Sleep and Mental Health on Working Memory and Academic Performance: A Longitudinal Study.” Brain Sciences, vol. 12, no. 11, MDPI AG, Nov. 2022, p. 1525, https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12111525

Bowman, Siann, et al. “Expanding the Search for Emerging Mental Ill Health to Safeguard Student Potential and Vocational Success in High School: A Narrative Review.” Early Intervention in Psychiatry, vol. 14, no. 6, Dec. 2020, pp. 655–76. EBSCOhost, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/eip.12928

Davidson, Fiona, et al. “Even a Mild Sleep Restriction Can Impact Daytime Functioning in Children with ADHD and Their Typically Developing Peers.” Behavioral Sleep Medicine, vol. 20, no. 1, Jan. 2022, pp. 21–36. EBSCOhost, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15402002.2021.1873785

Estevan, Ignacio, et al. “Should I Study or Should I Go (to Sleep)? The Influence of Test Schedule on the Sleep Behavior of Undergraduates and Its Association with Performance.” PLoS ONE, vol. 16, no. 3, Mar. 2021, pp. 1–9. EBSCOhost, https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0247104

Neuroth, Lucas M., et al. “The Relationship of School Start Times, Sleep Duration and Mental Health among a Representative Sample of High School Students in Colorado, 2019.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, vol. 18, no. 11, MDPI AG, May 2021, p. 5708, https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18115708. Accessed 7 Jan. 2025.

“Sleep Disturbance, Mental Health, Wellbeing and Educational Impact in UK University Students: A Mixed Methods Study.” Journal of Further and Higher Education, 2023, https://doi.org/10.1080//0309877X.2023.2209777 Accessed 8 Jan. 2025.

Zhang X, Dimitriou D and Halstead EJ (2021) Sleep, Anxiety, and Academic Performance: A Study of Adolescents From Public High Schools in China. Front. Psychol. 12:678839. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.678839