Sleep is an important part of a growing teen's life, meaning that it's a very important thing in my life as well! There are four elements that improve in a child, or teen's, life when they get the right amount of sleep. Three of these elements were studied and proven by a study done at St. George, a private boarding and day school in Middletown, Rhode Island. The teens involved in this study, in ninth through twelve grade, started school later by thirty minutes. The kids were happier, had better concentration, their health improved, and their motivation increased.
The kids in St. George were happier after getting thirty+ minutes more of sleep. Kids were happier to go to classes, and many sleep-related depressions had decreased. By a survey, the students who claimed they were unhappy or depressed dropped from 66% to 45% (a 21% drop). Also, the students' concentration increased during the school day than before the school time change. They ate breakfast and got to their first classes on time. To add to this study, many other studies and personal experiences, have proven better concentration after a good night of sleep. Another element proven to increase through this study is that the students' health increased. There were less student visits to the health center at the private boarding school complaining about fatigue-related issues.
This study also proved another element, yet slightly more minor than the other three. The teens were also more motivated to get the sleep they needed and wanted. Since they had a later start time, the hypothesis for the later start time for these students would be to stay up later, but after the kids understood what it was like to get the sleep they needed, they were motivated to go to sleep on time and wake up later. Since these results were so great and it improved everyone's life, the school decided to keep the later start time and henceforth increased the students' life by improving their mood, concentration, health, and motivation.
I got this from http://www.naturalhealthstrategies.com/teens-happier.html
Thanks for providing a source. I like that you used secondary research to back up your claims about sleep. I would like to see you connect to them a little more. Rather than reporting on the St. George study, use it to make an argument about the sleep that teenagers need and what we need to change to make that happen. (Certainly, it's not a big leap here to imagine you are suggesting that EHS start later, but you should actually say that if that is the purpose of your manifesto).
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