Sam Sarda, Grade 10

Centennial High School

Ellicott City, MD 21042
February 17, 2015
Dr. Foose,
I am a sophomore at Centennial High School enrolled in the G/T Independent Research class this
year. In this class I conducted a survey to determine the amount of sleep high school students get
on school days, and how the current school start times affect students. I was very interested in
this topic because of the countless days I have attended school last year and this current year
with only four to five hours of sleep the night before. I conducted this survey on
surveymonkey.com and 166 students participated in this survey. While most of the participants in
this survey were from Centennial high school, some were from Marriotts Ridge High School as
well. I am writing this letter to present the results of my sleep survey to you and to urge you to
delay start time for high schools in Howard County.
I moved to Howard County three years ago from Henrico County in Virginia. Soon I began to
notice that the two school systems that are among the best in the country are very different from
each other. When I compare the two school systems, there are many superior aspects of Howard
County Public schools (HCPSS). However, the thing that I liked more about Henrico schools is
that I did not have to wake up so early in the morning as my middle school started at 8:35 a.m.
High schools in Henrico County start at 9:00 a.m. which is favorable for high school students
sleep.
While conducting a literature search on my topic I came across a paragraph written by Dr.
Deepak Chopra in his New York Times best seller Super Brain. He wrote, Most people are
aware of the importance of sleep, but as a society we dont do what is good for us in this area.
We are chronically sleep deprived and even proud of the fact since it indicates a life on the go
and total dedication to our work. But the mind platter indicates that true dedication would consist
of balancing the brain for optimal performance, which means taking seriously time in, down time
and sleep time. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends 9 to 10
hours of sleep each day for teenagers. However, most high school students sleep less than six
hours each night. Chronic sleep deprivation can lead to negative health consequences and affect
adolescents physically, psychologically and socially. HCPSS has been pursuing implementing
healthy student lifestyles in a number of ways. Recently unhealthy snacks were banned in our
schools. Programs like this are aimed at developing healthy habits in students. I feel our schools
should also take necessary measures to ensure students have sufficient time to rest as sleep is
essential for health and proper brain function.
Teenagers tend to sleep at later times and awaken later in the morning compared to younger
children as the onset of puberty causes a change in circadian rhythm that causes a natural delay
in sleep (Teens and Sleep). The hormonal changes at puberty cause a delay in the evening onset
of melatonin secretion. This causes most teenagers to go to sleep after 11 p.m., about an hour
later than children who have not reached puberty. Furthermore as the sleep-wake cycle changes
with the onset of puberty, teenagers also feel sleepy at a later time. Homework and after school
activities also contribute to teenagers going to bed later. A three-year multi-site study involving

9000 teenage school students funded by CDC concluded that teenagers in schools that start at
8:30 a.m. or later show better academic performance and fewer depressive symptoms compared
to schools that start earlier in the morning (Wahlstrom 2014). Early start times for school and
early morning extracurricular activities cut into teenagers' sleep.
I read studies that have shown greater incidence of physical, mental and social problems and
accidents in sleep deprived teenagers, while other studies have demonstrated the beneficial
effects of later school start times on health and performance of high school students. Getting
adequate sleep as their bodies are still developing is very important for high school students.
Adequate sleep is known to increase attention, efficiency, accuracy, and speed. Chronically sleep
deprived, exhausted high school students have no time to pursue their interests and to develop
passions, creativity and innovative thinking.
My sleep survey consisted of ten multiple choice questions. The purpose of these questions was
to evaluate the effect of the current school start time on physical, psychological and social
wellbeing of participating students and their academic performance. One question on this survey
was aimed at obtaining student input for the school start time that would work the best for them.
Significant results of my survey are presented below. The complete survey is attached at the end
of this letter. You may notice grammatical errors in some of the questions of this survey. I was
extremely tired when I created this survey. This provides you an example of how the quality of a
students work can be affected by inadequate sleep.
The first question on the survey was How many hours are you able to sleep on an average
school day? Out of the 164 students who responded to this question only 11 indicated that they
are able to sleep more than 7 hours on school days. Around 9% of survey participants indicated
that they sleep less than 4 hours, 21% sleep 4-5 hours, 37% sleep 5-6 hours, 27% sleep 6-7
hours, and only about 6% sleep more than 7 hours. It is a travesty that 93% of students in
Howard County Public Schools do not receive the amount of sleep recommended for them by
CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics.
In response to the second question, Do you feel well rested in the morning on a school day?
144 out of 165 students indicated that they do not feel well rested in the morning on school days.
Given the results of the first question, this data is not very shocking. Some days when I leave my
house around 6:30 a.m., I am practically sleep walking from my house to the bus stop.
Grades are also affected by sleep deprivation since students have trouble in focusing,
understanding and memorizing their course material. The third question of the survey was Do
you feel not getting enough sleep is affecting your performance in school? In response over
79% students indicated that it does affect their performance in school and 21% indicated that it
does not affect their performance in school.
In response to the fourth question, Do you feel not getting enough sleep is affecting your
behavior (such as making you irritable, causing you to eat too much or too less)? over 79%
students stated that not getting enough sleep is affecting their behavior. Reduced energy levels
and stress due to sleep deprivation cause mood swings and food binges which can lead to the
development of other health problems such as depression, weight gain, type 2 diabetes and
cardiovascular disease. Sleep deprivation affects the production of growth hormone and therefore
may impede physical growth in some students. Weight gain, stunted growth and acne often bring
social stigma to the affected teenagers (Sleep Deprivation: Causes and Consequences).

. Inadequate sleep can also prevent high school students from participating in sports and
extracurricular activities. Over 57% Howard County high school students who participated in the
survey reported that do not have time for participating in extracurricular activities. An equal
number of students reported that they do not have sufficient time to finish their homework and
assignments each day after school.
About sixty two percent of survey participants reported not using any form of caffeine to help
them stay awake, while twenty nine percent stated that they use one to two servings of caffeine
each day. While these results do not seem significant, sleep deprivation is known to increase the
likelihood of becoming hooked on addictive substances such as alcohol, cigarettes, and other
drugs (Walstrom 2014).
In response to the ninth question, Which of these schedule options looks most appealing to
you? only about 8% survey participants indicated that they prefer the current school schedule.
About 32% indicated that they would prefer the school to start half an hour later and 52% would
prefer that school would start an hour later. In the other option, some students indicated that they
would prefer an hour and a half or two hour delay in the morning.
Many individuals who support early school start times argue that it provides high school students
more time to complete their homework and other assignments after school, and time to
participate in extracurricular activities. However, the results to this survey proved otherwise. For
question 5, more students indicated that they do not feel they have enough time to finish their
homework and assignments after school. Also for question 6, more students feel that they do not
have enough time to participate in extracurricular activities compared to the number of students
who feel that they do have enough time.
While we may not be noticing the many negative effects of chronic sleep deprivation on high
school students today, consequences of chronic sleep deprivation could be severe in the long run.
I realize that as a policy maker you must consider many other aspects of this issue. However, you
must also consider the following questions:

Is it acceptable that most students come to school tired and unready each day?
What is the point to having school start and end early if students still feel that they do not
have enough time to complete assignments and participate in extracurricular activities?
Is the current system not sacrificing passion, creativity and innovative thinking by
depriving students of sleep which is a basic human need?

I urge you not to ignore this issue as it affects each and every student in Howard County.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,

Sam Sarda

References:
"Teens and Sleep." Sleep for Teenagers. National Sleep Foundation. Web. 11 Jan. 2015.
Wahlstrom, Kyla. "Examining the Impact of Later High School Start Times on the Health and
Academic Performance of High School Students: A Multi-Site Study." College for
Education Human Development (2014). Web. 31 Dec. 2014.
"Sleep Deprivation: Causes and Consequences." NASD Review. NASD, 1 Jan. 2002. Web. 9 Jan.
2015.

Weekly Schedule for Holman Middle School, Henrico County