As schools continue to open across San Diego County for the fall semester, there is a new state law in effect that requires middle schools in the state to start no earlier than 8 a.m. and high schools to start no earlier than 8:30. The late start law is intended to help young people find more natural sleep patterns which helps brain development. Research shows the additional sleep would result in improved student performance and better physical health.
"During this time of human development, the middle schoolers and high schoolers tend to go to sleep later at night. And also the internal biological clock tells them to wake up slightly later in the morning. So, by having a delayed school start time, we allow the students to catch up anywhere between 30 minutes to 1 hour of extra sleep," said Satchin Panda, professor at the Salk Institute and author of the book "The Circadian Code. "
Panda joined Midday Edition Tuesday to talk about the research that helped lead to the later school start times in middle and high schools across California.
"This sleep improvement also ends up in fewer car crashes in the morning. And more importantly, it improves class attendance and graduation rates. And these results have been seen in many studies in the U.S., as well as in other countries," he said.
One consequence of the change is that it has made after school activities start later in the day, complicating the schedules of students participating in sports and other extracurriculars after the school day ends.
"I'm hearing that the coaches are looking towards other opportunities on the weekends and such break times, where we can bring kids in and work out with them and make sure that they're ready for those kinds of competitions," said Bill Walsh, principal at Castle Park Middle School in Chula Vista.
