“Over time, sleep deprivation leads to serious consequences for academic achievement, social behavior, and the health and safety of our nation’s youth,” the Congresswoman added. “We must encourage schools to push back their start times to at least 8:30 a.m. – a schedule more in tune with adolescents’ biological sleep and wake patterns and more closely resembling the adult work day.”

In fact, public opinion seems to side with Lofgren’s “Zzz’s to A’s” resolution. According to the National Sleep Foundation’s 2002 Sleep in America poll, 80% of respondents said high schools should start no earlier than 8:00 a.m. each day; nearly one-half of these respondents (47%) said start times should be between 8:00 and 8:30 a.m. Only 17% of those polled said high school classes should begin before 8:00 a.m.

A study by Dr. Kyla Wahlstrom at the University of Minnesota , demonstrates the impact of pushing back school start times. After the Minneapolis Public School District changed the starting times of seven high schools from 7:15 a.m. to 8:40 a.m., Dr. Wahlstrom investigated the impact of later start times on student performance, and the results are encouraging. Dr. Wahlstrom found that students benefited by obtaining five or more extra hours of sleep per week. She also found improvement in attendance and enrollment rates, increased daytime alertness, and decreased student-reported depression. Many experts agree that children and adolescents require nine to 10 hours of sleep each night, however, few actually get that much sleep.