Oak Park River Forest High School

As evidence grows that chronic sleep deprivation puts teens at risk for physical and mental health problems, there is increasing pressure on school districts around the country to consider a later start time.

In Seattle, school and city officials recently made the shift. Starting in the 2016-2017 school year, the district moved the official start times for middle and high schools nearly an hour later, from 7:50 a.m. to 8:45 a.m. This was no easy feat; it meant re-scheduling extracurricular activities and bus routes. But the bottom line goal was met: teenagers used the extra time to sleep in.

Researchers at the University of Washington studied the high school students both before and after the start time change. Their findings appear in a study published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances. They found students got 34 minutes more sleep on average, with the later school start time. This boosted their total nightly sleep from six hours and 50 minutes – to seven hours and 24 minutes.

“This study shows a significant improvement in the sleep duration of students, all by delaying school start times so they’re more in line with the natural wake-up times of adolescents,” says senior author Horacio de la Iglesia, a University of Washington researcher and professor of biology.

The study also found an improvement in grades and a reduction in tardiness and absences.

Sleepless No More In Seattle – Later School Start Time Pays Off For Teens

The primary purpose of this documentary is so that you can pause it and point out the blurry image of you in the background.

There is no important message that this film is trying to convey to you. The filmmakers’ primary goal was to shed light on a subject that we don’t talk about enough, which is you, out of focus, walking through the hallways. 

Please disregard any points that this documentary is trying to get across to you. The whole point is so that you can Snapchat a screenshot of a cafeteria scene with a big arrow pointing to a student that you’re pretty sure is you, with the caption “look at me i’m famous!!”