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SLEEP News 

Healthy Start Times Mean Better Performance:

In the Classroom, On the Field, and Behind the Wheel

March 2013

Dear SLEEP Member,  

 

National Sleep Awareness Week concludes as we Spring forward and lose one precious hour of sleep. Car crashes increase on the Monday following this time change, so be extra cautious on the roads.

We are pleased that attendance at "Sleep Night" was good despite the weather and thankful to Delegate Mark Keam for his surprise visit and to the school board members who were able to join us: Sandy Evans, Ryan McElveen, Megan McLaughlin, Patty Reed, Elizabeth Schultz and Dan Storck.


Especially exciting was the news that the Virginia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (VA AAP) supports later high school start times. Dr. Sandy Chung, President of the Medical Society of Northern Virginia (MSNVA) announced the endorsement from the Virginia Chapter of AAP and reaffirmed support from MSNVA during the event.  

 

Please read and share the information from the two articles below.  

 

Best,  

Phyllis Payne and Terry Tuley
 
Sleep Night Photo Winner by Marisa Ross
Winning photo by
Marisa Ross
Sleep Night  
By: Elizabeth Ende

Sleep Night was held at Annandale High School on February 26, but the name was a misnomer. No one was sleeping, instead rapt attention was paid by parents, students, teachers, and other community members who gathered to learn more about why the Fairfax County Public School (FCPS) School Board established a goal to set high school start times to after 8 a.m. (as they do in 72 other Virginia counties) and to discuss strategies to make this work in Fairfax. If you missed Sleep Night and the opportunity to talk with our School Board Members keep reading to find out what the experts have to say about later start times and be sure to let our School Board Members know that you support their goal and think the time has come for FCPS to figure out how to make later start times a reality for our high school students!


Ramona Morrow, President of the Fairfax County Council of PTAs (FCCPTA) welcomed folks who braved stormy weather to attend. Ms. Morrow advised "FCCPTA is co-sponsoring this event with SLEEP and Fairfax County Federation of Teachers (FCFT) because we are concerned about the health and safety of our teens. We're coming to bring our collective voices together to increase awareness and to gain support for the importance of safe and healthy start times." She then introduced Virginia Delegate, Mark Keam (D-District 35). Delegate Keam, set the stage for the evening with his passionate remarks about why later start times are important to him. "I'm here as a delegate AND as a parent of kids who attend a FCPS elementary school. I want to help ensure that everything you are doing becomes a reality because our kids need this. Keep up the fight!"  

 

Dr. Judith Owens, Director of Sleep Medicine at Children's National Medical Center did a great job walking the audience through the medical reasons why getting enough sleep is so important. "We need sleep to facilitate memory and to help us with executive functions, such as the ability to organize our thoughts, to moderate our emotions and to be goal-directed. These executive functions are developing most rapidly during the teenage years."

 

She then explained that physical changes occur during puberty that cause circadian rhythms to adjust so high school students fall asleep at later times. This means sleep deprivation is an inevitable result for Fairfax County high schools students who are caught in a squeeze between early school start times and changing adolescent sleep cycles. Dr. Owens reported that most high school students are two hours short on the suggested nine and a quarter hours of sleep and this has a detrimental impact on students.

 

Dr. Owens described some of the many negative impacts of inadequate sleep including: susceptibility to illness, problems with school attendance, and ability to learn and work efficiently. "I contend that many of these kids who say that they take 5 hours a night doing homework [recent NSF survey results] are taking so long partly because they are so inefficient, so exhausted, so tired, that it takes them 5 hours to do what should take 3."  

 

Dr. Owens also reported resulting health problems, "Teens that get less sleep report feeling more unhappy, more depressed, and hopeless about the future, or negative about life. According to studies, adolescents with sleep deprivation are 24% more likely to report depression and 20% more likely to have suicidal ideation." And, there is very real concern about long term consequences, "Study after study shows a correlation between sleep deprivation and obesity and type 2 diabetes." She also reported "Drowsy driving is another extremely important issue. In two studies, one in Virginia, a powerful correlation of data indicated that there is a decline in teen car crashes with a start time after 8AM."  

 

"Studies of schools that switch to a start time after 8am have a decrease in tardiness and absenteeism, drop-out rates, reports of depression and a decrease in the use of stimulants," Dr. Owens reported. And contrary to a popular misconception, bedtimes do not shift later. Students reported getting to bed at the same time as before, and some students reported going to bed 20 minutes earlier. Student comments included, 'I felt so much better with the extra time, that I was getting my homework done quicker and could go to bed earlier.'

 

A lively panel discussion followed. Participants included a neurologist, Dr. Emsellem, who got involved with this issue as a result of problems her children and patients encountered with early high school start times. "I'm doing what I can to fight the good fight and help keep teens healthy and get them the sleep they need to be the charming, creative, fascinating individuals they are capable of being when they are more rested."

 

President of the Medical Society of Northern Virginia (MSNV), Dr. Sandy Chung. who is also a board member of the Virginia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (VA AAP), announced a recent decision by VA AAP to endorse later high school start times and noted that the MSNVA reaffirmed its existing position in favor of later start times. (See article below).

 

The teacher perspective was enthusiastically represented by Steve Greenburg, President of the Fairfax County Federation of Teachers. "I'm here tonight because your teachers care about our students' health and academic progress. In order for us to do our job well, students need to come to school healthy and ready to learn. The investment in whatever it takes to get this problem fixed will be worth the payback in academic achievement." Terry Eiserman, a high school English teacher in Arlington County Public Schools (ACPS) for nearly 30 years and mother of two girls who attended FCPS schools, talked about ACPS' 2001 transition to later high school start times. Terry acknowledged that "Prior to changing from 7:30 am to 8:20 am, the worry was that the sky would fall, horrible things would happen. None of that happened. I honestly believe that Arlington is better because of this start time change. As an educator, I have to say that this is the way to go."

 

Rounding out the panel was Talia Schmitt, a Woodson HS senior and representative on the school board's Student Advisory Council (SAC).  Talia explained "I became interested in this issue because I hope that the next generation of freshmen gets the privilege of starting at least at 8 a.m. I know that the school system has a lot to offer and I think everybody would appreciate it more if we had the opportunity to wake up a bit later." Talia also reported that the next generation of students wants later start times, "I conducted a survey of the freshman class and asked: 'If you could change one thing about Woodson, what would it be?' The overwhelming majority (60%) chose a later start time". 

VIRGINIA CHAPTER OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS  (VA AAP) ENDORSES LATER HIGH SCHOOL START TIMES: Joins Growing List of Groups Supporting a Move to Later Morning Start Times for High School Students 

 

After a thorough review of the research and discussing the issue with colleagues and leaders in the medical community, Dr. William Rees, President of the Virginia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatricians (VA AAP) wrote, "I could find nothing but support from all my sources, including physicians, teachers and parents. The Virginia Chapter of the AAP goes on record as supporting later school start times for all Virginia high schools."

 

"Support from the VA AAP means that the medical evidence in favor of returning high school start times to more traditional hours (between 8 and 9 a.m.) has reached a level where it is appropriate to adjust current practice," said Phyllis Payne, Co-founder of SLEEP. "Sleep loss is a public health problem and providing a school schedule that better aligns with adolescent wake and sleep cycles is a proven solution."  

 

According to Terry Tuley, SLEEP Chair, "It was a similar resolution by the state medical organization that inspired school administrators in Minneapolis and Edina, Minnesota, to make the move and to provide healthy school schedules, which in turn got the national ball rolling. Now, more and more communities are working toward better bell times."

 

More than 70 individual pediatricians, pediatric practices, psychiatrists, psychologists, and health care providers have signed a letter encouraging the school board "to act as soon possible to provide start times that better accommodate adolescent, biologically-driven sleep patterns and allow high school students to attend class at times when they are more mentally alert."

 

Other organizations on record supporting the positive impact that later morning school schedules have on teen sleep include:  

  • Medical Society of Northern Virginia,  
  • Virginia PTA,  
  • Fairfax County Council of PTA's,  
  • League of Women Voters-Fairfax Area,  
  • Fairfax County Federation of Teachers (FCFT),  
  • FCPS School Health Advisory Committee,  
  • Fairfax Zero Tolerance Reform,  
  • Northern Virginia Healthy Kids Coalition (9-5-2-1-0 Campaign),  
  • Real Food For Kids, and  
  • Coalition of the Silence.
About Us

SLEEP is a grass-roots organization dedicated to increasing awareness about teen sleep need and improving the bell schedules at FCPS. Sleep is a prerequisite to learning and bell schedules that are in sync with student body clocks improve health, safety, and learning.