Teen Sleep, Brain Science and the Debate Over School Start Times

Scientists ran an unusual summer camp in the 1970s and ‘80s—and its main purpose was to study the sleep patterns of kids and teens. Campers actually wore electrodes all day so they’d be ready to plug in for monitoring. What researchers found, and have continued to study in the years since, is that teens have different, and greater, needs when it comes to sleep than people of other ages. But it turns out that plenty of schools make it hard for teens to get the amount of sleep that doctors recommend. This has led to heated debates in recent years over school start times. Advocates for later starts say that the issue is about more than whether teens have enough sleep to learn—there are serious implications for mental health as well. Read More