school schedules are designed in such a way that kids are deprived of adequate food and sleep. the sleep piece has been written on extensively, but itâs quite plain that requiring young people to wake up at 6am during the developmental phase when they need the most sleep and tend to stay up later is a terrible public health move.Â
from an eating perspective, itâs just as bad. say a middle or high schooler eats breakfast (if they even eat breakfast) at 7am, then doesnât eat lunch until 11-12 (and lunch is often inadequate), then has after-school activities, etc. and may not get home until late afternoon, or eat dinner until evening. and kids in school are not generally allowed to snack in class or given time to snack between classes. these gaps between eating times are way too big for adolescents! they need a lot of foodâmore than adultsâto support the growth process, just as they need more sleep.
itâs no wonder many kids start eating reactively in their teens, especially after school or at nightâtheyâre not being adequately fed during the day. even if kids arenât restricted from eating freely/fully at home, their daily lives regularly involve periods of energy deficiency. add to that the social pressures around body size, and itâs a recipe for disorder at an epidemic level
