Later School Start Time Cuts Teens' Car ... (the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine ...)

Later School Start Time Cuts Teens' Car Crash Risk

Date:12/15/2008

the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine.

The average teenager probably needs at least eight hours and probably closer to nine hours of sleep, Danner said. And as little as an hour less sleep on school nights can have a cumulative effect. That means that by the end of the week, teens are as impaired as if they had stayed up for 24 hours straight, Danner explained.

Fatigued drivers cause about 100,000 accidents a year and over half of those drivers are 16 to 25 years old, according to the National Sleep Foundation. One 2006 survey by the foundation revealed that 28 percent of high school students fall asleep at school and 51 percent have driven while drowsy. Another recent study showed that sleep deprivation also leads to safety problems for college students. A survey of 262 students at the University of North Texas found that 17 percent of them reported falling asleep while driving.

While there are statistical limitations in the University of Kentucky study, "if you sleep longer and you are less sleepy you are less likely to have a wreck. It simply stands to reason," said Dr. Francisco Perez-Guerra, former director of the Scott & White Sleep Disorders Center at Texas A&M University.

"We have been talking about later morning starts for children for years," he added. "This is not a brand new thought."

However, there are practical and political obstacles to overcome for school systems to change the school day schedule for high school students. "If it could be done, it should be done. The question is, can it be done?" he said.

More information

There's more on getting good sleep at the National Sleep Foundation.

SOURCES: Fred Danner, Ph.D., director, educational counseling and psychology, University
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