Dr. Wes Crenshaw and Kyra Haas

Wes: Every January marks “Back-to-School: The Sequel” for students all over America. In honor of this annual holiday rebound, Kyra and I will be doing four columns on school-related topics this January. Three of them are about things we’d like to see schools do differently, not just our schools but all schools. This week, it’s teen sleep — or, more correctly, what most American schools do to make it worse.

The research is pretty clear (see the Family Psychological Services Facebook page) students do better in school when we pay attention to their natural circadian (sleep) rhythms. Schools that start between 8 and 8:30 a.m. have better outcomes. More importantly, I would argue, better sleep is clearly linked to better mental health.

One can argue that if teens would just practice better sleep hygiene (e.g. get to bed earlier and turn off mind-engaging gizmos earlier in the evening), then they could get up and face the day like the rest of us do. Except the research conducted before kids were wired-in 24/7 said the exact same thing. Teen brains just operate on a later schedule than adult brains, and will continue to do so until the early- to mid-20s.

It’s easy to say, “We’ve been doing it this way for 35 years, dagnabbit! If it was good enough for [fill in noted authority like Abraham Lincoln] then it’s good enough for kids today.” Except it wasn’t good for previous generations and it’s even worse now for kids faced with increasing tensions over education and test scores. We press onward, trying to shove more and more increasingly difficult material into longer and longer days in shorter and shorter school years, and then wonder why kids aren’t achieving more.

One great example is adding “zero hour” to the beginning of the day. Kyra shares here thoughts about how that’s working out for her and the many students across the country that have no other choice than to rise and shine. Or at least, rise.

Kyra: At 6:02 a.m., my iPhone’s harsh “Uplift” alarm demands an end to my five-hour sleep. I bumble about blindly, somehow landing in my second row seat in a zero hour physics classroom at 6:58 a.m. with 20-some other bleary-eyed students.

Kids at my high school, and many other schools across the country, love to complain about waking up early for class — so much so, that one of my English teachers had “change school start time” on his list of banned topics for persuasive papers.

However, as Wes notes, the research against zero hour is plentiful. Many of these early-start programs and school models started in the 70s and 80s, before sleep researchers understood how they really affected adolescents, yet in light of clear evidence, schools remain slow to adapt.

In late August 2014, the LJWorld cited a new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics once again recommending later start times for middle and high school students. My 7:00 a.m. class starts a full hour-and-a-half earlier than the Academy’s recommendation. Recent studies from Brown University, the Children’s National Medical Center and the University of Minnesota all agree — later start times result in teens getting more sleep with better health and academic performance.

Like many who brave zero hour, I didn’t take it by choice. I just couldn’t enroll in a certain class I needed unless I got up before daybreak five days a week. The result for me has been lessened attention, increased coffee consumption and more illness than ever before. Numerous studies show I’m not alone.

People worry about how changing the school schedule might impact other activities of daily life — bus transportation, sports practice and events. However, teen mental and physical health and academic success is more important than leaving school an hour early, moving extracurriculars or avoiding traffic.

Wes Crenshaw, Ph.D., ABPP, is author of “I Always Want to Be Where I’m Not: Successful Living with ADD & ADHD.” Learn about his writing and practice at dr-wes.com. Kyra Haas is a Free State High School senior who blogs at justfreakinghaasome.wordpress.com. Send your confidential 200-word question to ask@dr-wes.com. Double Take opinions and advice are not a substitute for psychological services.