Starting school later can reduce the risk of depression and fatigue in teenagers. This is shown by a new study at the National Center for Suicide Research and Prevention (Nasp), reports Sweden’s radio Ekot.
In the study, teenagers between the ages of 12-16 were examined in the Stockholm area. 46 percent of them slept significantly less than the recommended eight hours on weekdays, compared to 17 percent who slept too little on weekends.
According to the researchers, an extra half hour of sleep can reduce the risk of depression and suicidal thoughts by ten percent.
– We have a problem that has a simple solution that would result in an incredible number of positive payoffs, says researcher Gergö Hadlaczky to Ekot.
But since it can be difficult to get young people to go to bed earlier, his proposal is to delay the start of school.
– What is extremely interesting in this matter is that there are some studies that show that if you just delay the start of school by an hour, you increase sleep by about half an hour, says Gergö Hadlaczky.
And more sleep has more positive effects than that, he believes.
– There are lots of studies that show that sleep is also associated with better grades and less crime, he says.