Poll: Are Students Getting Enough Sleep?

In the last few days, a handful of West Orange students have signed a national petition to get the government to mandate that the school day start later.

The petition is part of a national campaign to provide teenagers with more time for sleep, based on studies showing that high school students are seriously sleep deprived. More than 150 students from Millburn and a handful of students in neighboring districts of South Orange-Maplewood and Livingston also signed the petition.

The petition seeking to promote legislation to prohibit public schools from starting the school day before 8 a.m. has garnered more than 2,100 of the 5,000 signatures needed before it can be brought before Congress, the Senate and President Barack Obama.

"When we reach 5,000, we will be hand-delivering this petition to select members of Congress and the White House administration," said Terra Ziporyn Snider, with Start School Later, a group of parents, medical professionals and caregivers circulating the petition.

Snider, a mother in Severna Park, Md., has been working on the issue for 10 years since she saw how sleep-deprived her own children were becoming in school.

"It's basically too late for my kids – my son is a junior in high school, but my daughters are already in their 20s," Snider said. "We've already seen several cases where the national push is breathing new life into local efforts and may, in fact, be the only way for local systems ever to change."

Some of the students left comments on the online petition.

From a senior swimmer at Millburn High School: "Many students in my graduating class (2013) get as little as 4 hours of sleep a night. This is well below the CDC recommendation of a minimum of 8.5 hours. School seems to be the main reason for our sleep deprivation. I would like to see later mornings so every student can keep a healthy lifestyle while getting a first rate education. As an athlete, sleep is extremely important for my performance. Being able to sleep in, would allow me to stay more alert in school, on the road, and in the swimming pool."

Another student said a later start time would cut down on depression, mood swings and the use of stimulants by some students to stay awake.

The school day at West Orange High School officially begins at 7:40 a.m., according to the district website. The middle schools begin at 8:10 a.m. and the elementary schools at 8:35 a.m.

While the petition calls for a start time no earlier than 8 a.m., Snider and many in the movement think that 8:30 a.m. or later would be better.

Wrote one mom: "I completely agree that school start times before 8 a.m. are inhumane and affect children negatively. I watch my three daughters walk to the school bus every morning at 6:57 a.m. in the dark, like zombies with bloodshot eyes still too tired to even speak. There is no reason schools should do this to children! Please change the school start times to after 8 a.m. My three kids spend the entire weekends sleeping to try to catch up from sleep deprivation during the week."

The case of more sleep for teenage students

According to the Sleep Foundation, only 14 percent of teenagers get the recommended nine hours of sleep on a school night. Start School Later points to several studies that address the need for sleep in adolescents.

• A study conducted by the University of Minnesota found that because of their natural body rhythms, teens have trouble falling asleep before 11 at night and so waking up to get to school seven hours later prohibits teens from getting enough sleep.

• New York Magazine reported the findings of sleep expert Dr. Avi Sadeh of Tel Aviv University, who said, “A loss of one hour of sleep is equivalent to [the loss of] two years of cognitive maturation and development.”
• Teens who get more sleep are more alert in the morning and therefore less likely to be involved in car accidents, the leading cause of death among adolescents, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

To view or sign the petition, click here.

in Fairfield, Conn., contributed to this report.