Most of us are used to school starting at the standard time, 8:00. But what if that time got pushed back by just one hour? This idea has been proposed before too, and most haven’t agreed with it, but it is something that could affect students’ lives for the better. Pushing the starting time of school could help get a better academic performance from students, improve their mood, and even grades.  
     In the U.S. the average time that school starts varies from 7:45 am to 8:15 am, but experts from Sleep Foundation say that schools shouldn’t start before 8:30. Teenagers need 8-10 hours of sleep each night for them to have enough energy for the next day. However, studies are showing that most teenagers aren’t getting enough sleep every night. The Sleep Foundation says that the number of highschoolers not getting enough sleep is over 70% (How Would Later School Start Times Affect Sleep?). 70% is a concerning number of students, more than half of highschoolers are showing up to school every day with lack of sleep. 
     A survey led by Dr. Craig Canapari shows that most teenagers are sleeping less than the minimum number of hours they are supposed to. Only 25% of boys and only 21% of girls are getting 8 hours of sleep each night, which is the minimum number of hours they are meant to get, and only 9% of boys and 8% of girls are getting 9 or more hours of sleep, which affects their performance at school (Almost All Teens Are Sleep Deprived). You often see students tired in the morning, sometimes too tired to speak, this stops them from being able to fully concentrate or participate in class or daily activities. Teenagers have a phase delay which shifts their body clock by a few hours. This phase delay makes it hard for teenagers to fall asleep before 11:00 pm and wake up before 8:00 am (How Would Later School Start Times Affect Sleep). On top of that, high schoolers get more homework assigned, participate in extracurricular activities, may have part time jobs, and use technology at later hours, which could increase the chances of depression symptoms and suicidal thoughts, participation in unhealthy activities, and even healthy issues such as obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Starting school later would fulfil the need for students to sleep more and it would be more effective. Students would show up to school more energized, less irritated, show less depression symptoms, and focus and participate more in class, making it more effective for them and making school a better environment for everyone.                              
     Some argue that pushing the starting times of school later could cause some conflicts. Some of which would be more traffic at the time students need to leave for school, scheduling problems with competitions and activities with other schools that have different start and end times. Or problems with teens who might have to take care of their younger siblings after school. These problems could be resolved with some more planning, and compared to the health of teenagers, and their academic performance, these seem like secondary problems.  
     Starting school an hour later would be even more effective for students to get more hours of sleep would have a positive impact in their everyday life. School would be more effective and enjoyable for everyone because they would have more energy, bring more positivity to school, and be able to focus better and increase their grades. Regardless of the small problems that may come from this, the changes it would make for students would be too good to ignore it as an option.