Experts: "School starts too early"

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School at eight? That's against biology, say experts. They refer to the results of an American study that identified the ideal start of lessons for young people.

A biological clock is ticking in every human being. It regulates when we feel awake or tired, when we are hungry or when we can concentrate particularly well. Shift workers or people with jet lag know that this inner clock is not so easily tricked. But when is the best time for teenagers to soak up teacher's lessons like a sponge?

Experts from the University of Oxford have investigated this question. Paul Kelley's team investigated exactly how the biological clock ticks in adolescents between 10 and 18 years of age. To do this, they recorded how long and at what time the students slept and how well they were then able to follow the lesson.

The result: for children up to ten years of age, school can start at 8:30 a.m., but for young people up to 16 years of age, 10:00 a.m. is the best starting point. And 16 to 18-year-olds only process the subject matter really well after 11 a.m.

Lessons start between ten and eleven

The reason lies in the inner clock. As he grows up, he continues to dictate childlike nine hours of sleep. At the same time, older teenagers go to bed later. This shift in sleep times can also be observed in other mammals, says Kelley. But because the alarm clock rings at seven o'clock, they go to school without having had enough sleep and find it difficult to concentrate. There is also an age effect: in the course of life, the time in which people can concentrate shifts back by almost three hours.

“In adolescence, the conflict between social and biological time is greater than in any other phase of life,” explains Kelley. When the alarm clock rings at seven o'clock for the student, he feels like his 50-year-old teacher at 4.30 a.m. Many young people therefore sleep too little over the long term. This can have negative effects on brain development and health. Many young people would certainly like to support Kelly's demand: "School should start later." Preferably between ten and eleven o'clock in the morning.

"Time to wake up!"

Our inner alarm clock is a ball of nerves in the middle of the brain, more precisely in the hypothalamus. It is called the suprachiasmatic nucleus, or SCN for short. When light falls into our eyes in the morning, it sends a signal to all organs: Time to wake up! However, our brain is a sleepyhead, especially those areas that are important for learning. And the older we get, the more sleepy our thinking organ becomes. Adults are also most intellectually productive between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. and around 5 p.m. in the afternoon.

Sources:

University of Oxford press release, A call to end early starts in education, September 4, 2015.

Kelley P. et al .: Synchronizing education to adolescent biology: "Let teens sleep, start school later", Neuroscience and Education, July 2014.

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