SLEEP Research - Links to Web Pages With Information About:

  1. Adolescents and sleep

  2. Benefits of later start times from school districts that have already made the change and from other districts that hope to make the change.

  3. Research that shows additional reasons to make secondary school start times later in the morning.

  4. Fairfax County Public School (FCPS) bell schedules, school board members, and information about the history of later start times in Fairfax:

  5. Surveys of Fairfax County Public School students, teachers and parents.

 

I.  Adolescents and sleep

  • Children’s National Medical Team (contracted by FCPS) has been tasked with developing several workable scenarios to start FCPS high schools after 8:00 am to improve students’ mental and physical health, academic performance, and safety. http://www.smartschoolstart.org/

Summaries of Sleep Research with Links to Primary Sources Organized by Topic:

Harvard Medical School, Division of Sleep Medicine:


National Institutes of Health, US Department of Health and Human Services


The National Sleep Foundation (NSF):


FCPS Transportation Task Force:


Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (DHS CDC):


Washington Post :


New York Times:


Public Broadcasts:

  • National Public Radio, All Things Considered, February 11, 2004 : Sleep Loss Takes Toll on Teens (Children who get less sleep may develop symptoms of depression and low self-esteem)

  • CNN Video: "Teens and Sleep Patterns" Clicking on this link will open a new window at CNN. When the window opens, please wait for the video to load. (May require CNN subscription to see.)

Other:

 

 

II.  Benefits of later start times from school districts that have already made the change and from other districts that hope to make the change.

SLEEP in Fairfax:


2005 Case Studies from the National Sleep Foundation (NSF):

Each of the documents listed below provides a description of how another school district successfully transitioned to later morning start times for high school students. NSF includes information about the bell schedules before and after the change, a profile of each school district, specific challenges posed within each district and corresponding solutions. Each document describes how districts implemented the change, who championed it, how they managed the transitio. It’s also exciting to read about the benefits achieved after the bell schedule change. Both Wilton and Fayette did studies comparing various factors before and after the high schools switched to later morning start times.


University of Minnesota:


   Other:

 

 

III.  Research that shows additional reasons to make secondary school start times later in the morning:

Scientific Journals and Newspaper Articles:

Crime Statistics:

Department of Justice Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

Sports and Sleep:

The Importance of Enough Sleep: Some practical tips for sleep and sports performance in teenagers

      There are many good reasons for teenagers to get more sleep than they do, but once again reality can get in the way of a good plan. So do the best you can to get as close as you can to 9 hours of sleep for your teen. At the very least there are special situations when you'll want to pay special attention to "sleep preparation" for performance. Do you have an important tournament or championship game coming up? How about a national team tryout? A college identification camp where you'll be traveling east through several time zones? Read this brief article for some tips: SidelineSportsDoc Blog - The Source For Sideline Injury Management

From the May 23, 2011 edition of the Sideline Sports Doc Blog:

NPR reports on a Stanford University study:

  • New research adds to a growing body of evidence showing the perks of a good night's sleep. A study from researchers at Stanford University finds that extra hours of sleep at night can help improve football players' performance on drills such as the 40-yard dash and the 20-yard shuttle. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127478147

National Sleep Foundation

American Psychiatric Association

Science Daily

 

SLEEP in Fairfax
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