A sleep specialist and supporter of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, Jeffrey Rose, is advocating for later school start times, according to Fox News. Citing widespread sleep deprivation among students, Rose is urging Americans to acknowledge its ill effects and support change, arguing that exhausted students struggle to focus and learn, regardless of school or teacher quality. Emphasizing the critical role of adequate sleep for teenagers, Rose recommends they get 8-10 hours of sleep per night, a target he believes is currently unattainable for many high schoolers.
Rose, who founded the Rockland County, New York, chapter of ‘Start Schools Later,’ views pushing back start times as a crucial educational reform. He contends that sleep deprivation can lead to reliance on substances like alcohol, marijuana, and stimulants like Adderall and Ritalin. Later start times, however, would improve student health, boost immune systems, reduce absenteeism and car accidents, and enhance athletic performance, Rose says.
“The most current data from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), developed by the CDC, showed that 77.3% of high school students reported not getting enough sleep on school nights,” Fox News reports.
With Kennedy as Secretary of the HHS, Rose hopes that his concerns will be heard and that greater attention will be brought to the issue as it relates to helping young Americans live a healthier lifestyle.
California was the first state to mandate later start times, followed by Florida, according to Fox News. However, a new bill in Florida seeks to reverse this decision, highlighting the ongoing debate.
Proponents argue that later start times improve student focus and well-being, while opponents cite potential disruptions to working parents and after-school activities.
Fox News reports, a 2021 University of Minnesota study involving 18,000 students indicated a slight increase in GPA after start times were pushed back, although the academic improvements were considered “small” relative to the “large” sleep benefits. A separate 2022 study in Colorado found that students reported feeling “less stressed and more rested” after later start times were implemented.
The initiatives focus on middle and high school students as they are in the age group that is “most susceptible to the ill effects of inadequate sleep.”
Public school start times is not an issue, but rather bed times . Kids are up late playing video games, watching tv or on their phones. Sleep hygiene is a largely unknown concept among the general population.