As a teenager, it becomes increasingly difficult to get up early in the morning. Result: young people tend to sleep in class. But society is not really adapted to their pace. Here is the time they should start the day.
“All middle school students will be in school every day of the week, between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.” Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced in April. A measure which would be applied for students “who wish” and as a priority in the “priority neighborhoods of city policy” (QPV) and the “priority education networks “. A breakfast will be offered to middle school students before classes, while in the evening, teenagers will be able to do “homework help activities” or “sporting and cultural activities, such as theater.” But start classes if early, is this really a good idea?
For Jimmy Mohamed, “starting school at 8 a.m. for middle and high school students is not possible,” believes the doctor. Quite simply because young people have a biological clock that shifts as they progress through adolescence. This is what we call a phase delay: “naturally, adolescents tend to go to bed later, around 11 p.m., and we cannot fight that,” explains the doctor. But if we consider that young people need on average 9 hours of sleep, they should go to bed at 9-10 p.m. or wake up at 8 a.m., the time at which they are supposed to start the course. Added to this is the travel and preparation time which means getting up even earlier…
Result: students risk being “in sleep debt, tired, in a bad mood, they will eat poorly, be stressed, and have poorer academic results” recalls Jimmy Mohamed, who recommends starting classes in college and at school later, at least at 9am. “We send children to school very early to be able to go to work, whereas it should be the opposite: we should first ensure the well-being of the children, and then go to work peacefully,” he adds. .
Indeed, a later start would have positive effects on children’s academic success. In 2014, the American Academy of Pediatrics pointed out the discrepancy between young people’s schedule and their biological clock, recommending that they let them sleep more in the morning. For Célia Levavasseur, pediatrician and author of “Guide for young parents who don’t want to die of exhaustion”, classes should start at 8 a.m. in nursery and primary school, then later and later: at 9 a.m. in middle school, 9:30 a.m. in high school and 10 hours in higher education. A theory that seems to be beneficial according to a study conducted by pediatrician Judith Owens: “research has clearly shown that adolescents who get enough sleep have […] better grades and a higher quality of life.”