Setting adolescents up for success: Promoting a policy to delay high school start times
Abstract
BACKGROUND: A unique biological shift in sleep cycles occurs during adolescence causing later sleep and wake times. This shift is not matched by a concurrent modification in school start times, resulting in sleep curtailment for a large majority of adolescents. Chronic inadequate sleep is associated with poor academic performance including executive function impairments, mood, and behavioral issues, as well as adverse health outcomes such as an increased risk of obesity, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease. In order to address sleep deficits and the potential negative outcomes associated with chronic sleep deprivation, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) support delaying school start times for middle and high school students. METHODS: We summarize current evidence, explicate the need for policy change, and urge school districts to put adolescent students' health as top priority and implement school start times consistent with their developmental needs. RESULTS: Whereas substantial evidence illustrating adverse consequences of inadequate sleep on psychological and physical health, and recommendations exist to adapt daytime school schedules to match sleep needs have been released, actual implementation of these recommendations have been limited. CONCLUSIONS: This is a call to action for the implementation of AAP/CDC recommendations across the state and nation.
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Sleep gains associated with later morning school start times might be responsible for the improvements in health and academic performance.
“Sleep gains associated with later morning SSTs might be responsible for these improvements because of the well-known associations between sleep, health, and cognitive functioning [11,34,35].”
From The Power of Flexible School Start Times: (2026) · cites this paper as [34]
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Delayed school start times and adolescent health
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The Power of Flexible School Start Times:
Albrecht, J. N., Risch, A., Huber, R., & Jenni, O. G. (2026) · Journal of Adolescent Health · doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2026.01.011 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
- Authors
- Barnes, M., Davis, K., Mancini, M., Ruffin, J., Simpson, T., & Casazza, K.
- Affiliations
- University of Alabama at Birmingham (US)
- Corresponding author
- Casazza, Krista
- Venue
- Journal of School Health
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2016-06
- Volume
- 86
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 552-557
- ISSN
- 0022-4391 (ISSN-L)
- 1746-1561
- OpenAlex
- W2413192104
- Cited by
- 35
- References
- 6
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 1
- FWCI
- 6.64
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of School Health (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Leadership Education in Adolescent Health training grant (T71MC24209)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Sleep and related disorders
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Endocrine and Autonomic Systems › Circadian rhythm and melatonin
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Speech and Hearing › School Health and Nursing Education
- Keywords
- school start time, adolescent sleep, sleep deprivation, circadian rhythm, academic performance, executive function, adolescent health policy, school district implementation, American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines, CDC guidelines
- MeSH terms
- Achievement, Adolescent, Adolescent Behavior, Female, Humans, Male, Schools, Sleep, Sleep Deprivation, Students, Time Factors, Policy
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