Sleeping Enough to Dream a Better World

becomingateacher

In the psychology of adolescence, we learn about brain development and the biological changes in when adolescents naturally fall asleep and wake up. Early school start times create chronic sleep deprivation, which negatively affects learning, attention, and academic performance. Chronic sleep deprivation in adolescents has been linked to many negative outcomes, including:

  • poor attention and learning
  • increased risk-taking behaviors
  • difficulty regulating emotions
  • higher rates of depression and anxiety
  • increased car accidents
  • substance use
  • lower academic performance

Because of this strong evidence, many health organizations now recommend that high schools start later in the day. Early morning classes create a clear mismatch between students’ biological sleep rhythms and institutional schedules, leading to sleep deprivation, reduced attendance, and lower GPA. Research shows that later school start times are associated with real benefits, including:

  • lower rates of depression
  • reduced substance use
  • better overall mental health
  • lower risk of obesity and diabetes
  • significant reductions in teen car crashes (with one study showing a 70% drop)
  • better grades and test scores
  • improved focus
  • better attendance
  • less falling asleep in class

From a health and learning perspective, the evidence in favor of later start times is very strong. At the same time, there is another side of the debate. This side is not about science, but about the “reality” we have built around ourselves. Transportation is the biggest challenge. Many districts share buses between elementary, middle, and high schools, so changing one start time affects all others. Some districts would need more buses and drivers, which is costly. There are also concerns about extracurricular activities ending later, less daylight for sports in winter, coordination with other schools, after-school jobs, and family schedules. Parents’ work hours may not change, childcare arrangements can become more complicated, and many families depend heavily on existing routines. Even when long-term benefits are clear, short-term financial costs can prevent change from happening.

It sometimes feels as though we have built a reality for ourselves that wins over wisdom and science. That feels irrational to me. It reminds me of everyday examples: eating fast food every night because there is no time to shop and cook whole foods or relying on caffeine because we do not sleep enough. Many of us have lived this or seen it, and yet we would struggle to defend it rationally. Still, when it comes to public decisions, we often become more flexible with logic and allow the structures we have built to override what we know is better.
If we know something is harmful, ineffective, and well-documented and we continue doing it anyway, how would we judge that behavior? Isn’t this, in some ways, adolescent behavior itself? As Steinberg explains, adolescents often understand risks just as well as adults do and yet are still more likely to take them.

This makes me wonder whether we are living in a time where our social structures behave like adolescents. Perhaps our young Eurocentric mindsets have not yet caught up with Indigenous ways of living, older wisdoms, relational worldviews, and long-term thinking. We prioritize speed and consumption over sustainability. We treat the Earth, the environment, our bodies, our souls, and even one another as resources to be used rather than relationships to be cared for. We live through glass screens, filters, social approval, and constant comparison (sounds adolescent!). We follow scripts because “everyone else is doing it,” instead of acting with maturity and responsibility.

This is not meant to criticize adolescents. Adolescents are brave, thoughtful, and capable of deep understanding. Rather, I am reflecting on the difference between being driven by hormones and change, and the human choice to either give in, follow, or rise above. Sometimes it feels as if the loudest, most reactive, and most aggressive voices dominate, like allowing teenage bullies to run a school, where power justifies harm. Emotional reactions drive decisions rather than reflection or care. There is nothing wrong with emotion, but we usually learn that not all decisions should be made in the heat of emotion. When emotions go unchecked, we see the same outcomes repeating anger, division, violence, despair, and harm, patterns we have seen many times throughout history.

Am I the only one who feels that many of us lack agency over our lives? That staying aware and emotionally present can feel overwhelming. That we sometimes hide, numb, or externalize our emotions just to carry the burden of reality? Am I wrong to think we are moving too fast? That we act young, but no longer dream young, with that idealistic, hopeful force that imagines a better world grounded in compassion and peace?
I do not want to go too far on this tangent today, but I may return to it, especially as I reflect on global conflict, polarization, and the emotionally driven decisions made without time to reflect or even “sleep on it!”
For now, this inquiry brings me back to teaching. How do I meet students at 8:30 in the morning and truly understand their moods, their brains, and their inner lives? How do I model maturity without becoming distant or hiding behind “rational” systems that serve efficiency more than humanity? How do I work within a structure that feels like a fast-moving machine, one that is difficult to slow down, and even scarier to step off?

This week, my inquiry feels like an invitation to slowness. Slowness does not mean failure, nor does it mean falling behind. It may mean resting, thinking more deeply, and becoming kinder, wiser, and more present. It may mean choosing care over speed, and maturity over reaction. Even as I write this, I know the moment is already passing, and perhaps that is exactly why it matters.

References:

Wolfson, A. R., & Carskadon, M. A. (2003). Understanding adolescents’ sleep patterns and school performance: A critical appraisal. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 7(6), 491–506. https://doi.org/10.1053/smrv.2002.0258

Yeo, S. C., Lai, C. K. Y., Tan, J., Lim, S., Chandramoghan, Y., Tan, T. K., & Gooley, J. J. (2023). Early morning university classes are associated with impaired sleep and academic performance. Nature Human Behaviour, 7(4), 502–514. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-023-01531-x