Wake Up, California!
November 8, 2019
Sleep. Everyone needs it. Everyone loves it. But recent studies have shown that teens, even though they need the most sleep, don’t get enough to do well in school.
Lisa Dunn, a licensed psychotherapist, Marriage and Family Therapist, and the mom of a teenager has done her research on this topic. She pointed out that, ¨Sleep deprived teens are more susceptible to depression, poor impulse control and difficulty regulating their emotions. Insufficient sleep in teens negatively impacts social relationships, complex learning and brain development…all important developmental stepping stones in a teen’s life.”
In a study done by the National Sleep Foundation, the results revealed that only 15% of teens sleep for 8½ hours on a school night. The recommended amount of hours is eight to 10. Another study was done by the NSF in which 1,602 teens took a poll where they were measured on several mood states: feeling unhappy, depressed, or sad, hopeless about the future, worrying too much, and feeling nervous or tense. 46 percent of teens had the lowest depressive mood score of 10, 37 percent had a moderate score of 15 to 19, and 17 percent had the highest depressive mood score of 20 to 30. The adolescents who scored a 20 to 30 were more likely to take longer to fall asleep and get an insufficient amount, leading to low grades in school and lack of effort.
However, these depressive moods in adolescents and the lack of sleep may be due to the early start time in schools. On Sunday, October 13th, California took steps to help improve the sleeping patterns of teens. Governor Gavin Newsom signed a new bill that orders California high schools to push back their starting bells to 8:30, and middle schools must be pushed back to no earlier than 8:00. This new law excludes rural districts due to bus scheduling and the start times do not apply to zero periods.
“Typically, I go to sleep at 11 PM,” said Gavin Ordinario, an eighth grader at McAuliffe Middle School. “On a school day, I wake up at 7.” When asked about his mood on days when he does not get enough sleep he stated, “I feel tired and grumpy…I keep my grades up, but my mood is not good.”
Xianthelle Agustin, a student at Jefferson Middle School, agreed with Ordinario. “If I don’t get enough sleep, then I’ll get really tired and I won’t be able to cooperate in class. For instance, I’ll also easily get irritable.”
This new law was signed in the hopes that academic performance will improve and students will make better decisions with well-rested minds. Although the law will not go into effect until the 2022-2023 school year, some students and teachers are looking forward to better grades in school and not having to worry about hitting “snooze” on their alarm clocks.
olivia • Nov 15, 2019 at 12:40 pm
great article, very informal and raised a lot of awareness for me.
Marie D • Nov 15, 2019 at 11:38 am
Great article! This was very well written. Hopefully the new law will help students academically and mentally, not encourage them to stay up later.
JP Harnage • Nov 15, 2019 at 11:33 am
I like the title of this article, it really caught my eye.
Brandon • Nov 15, 2019 at 10:57 am
Why do teen’s not get enough sleep
Elise Chhour • Nov 15, 2019 at 10:55 am
Stupendous job! The article made me realize how much sleep I actually need. I probably only get 7 or 8 hours of sleep every night.
Kennedy Aase • Nov 15, 2019 at 10:47 am
This article was very helpful, and I’ll keep it in mind. Good job!
Finn • Nov 15, 2019 at 10:46 am
Can’t wait for the 22-23 school year now!
Jacs • Nov 15, 2019 at 10:09 am
I agree. This new law will help students be more aware and interested in learning. Great job on getting this news past to us, it will certainly help us know that we can get more sleep!
Nanna • Nov 15, 2019 at 8:57 am
Great article! But will students just go to bed later which will defeat the purpose? Only time will tell…
Nane and Dedo • Nov 10, 2019 at 1:07 pm
Awesome job on the article Mona! Hopefully the new law will have a positive effect .
Andrew Bensavage • Nov 9, 2019 at 8:41 pm
I woke up Saturday morning at 6:00 feeling like it was 8 or 9 o’clock
Joseph Eng • Nov 8, 2019 at 9:09 pm
Great article, it was very informational! I need to get more sleep because l’m in the 85% of teens who aren’t getting 8.5 hours of sleep at night. The new law should help a little, but it doesn’t go into effect for another three years! Maybe I should get off of Birdwatch and GO TO BED! No, Birdwatch is too good.
Gavin O. • Nov 8, 2019 at 3:29 pm
Great job on writing this article. It was very interesting. That Gavin person seems really cool.
Maleah Fennessey • Nov 8, 2019 at 3:06 pm
You’re a very talented writer! I feel like we all need more sleep, so I love the idea of the law.
Jasmine Lee • Nov 8, 2019 at 2:55 pm
Great job Mona! Hopefully, this law is the right thing to do
Travis Le • Nov 8, 2019 at 10:21 am
In my opinion, I think that this law is kinda bad because dad has to go to work super early, and my mom doesn’t take me until past 8:00 a.m.
Calvin Chait-Walter • Nov 8, 2019 at 10:07 am
I really like your article, but I feel the law could have a negative affect to, giving kids an incentive to stay up later.