MIDVALE, Utah — Hillcrest students are starting to feel tremendous impacts on their mood, focus, and performance in school due to school start time. Senior Ella Hobson says, “I can’t focus or understand as well when I don’t sleep.”
Hillcrest High School students notice they do much better in school and feel much better about themselves when they get enough sleep. Most students at Hillcrest don’t even have enough time to eat breakfast.
After being asked what would change if school started later, senior Ella Cox says, “I could eat breakfast in the morning, and breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” Not having breakfast will have effects on almost everyone.
Some people will get throbbing headaches from not eating, and some people might just be grumpy all day. Senior Brayden Lloyd says, “It makes me not feel great during the day, and it makes me lack energy.” Therefore, not eating breakfast will cause students to be very tired during school, causing a decline in their academic performance, and will affect their focus.
The average high school student gets around seven to eight hours of sleep. However, an average high schooler actually needs eight to ten hours of sleep. Therefore, most teens currently are getting not enough sleep or the minimum amount of sleep.
For that reason, teachers, staff, and parents have yet to see their students’ full potential. Students need to sleep more so they can focus better, eat a good breakfast, and do better academically. Having students do better in school would be well worth just having to fix the bus schedules and push back extracurricular activities. If students do better in school, it would make it easier for them to get into good colleges and set them up for a good path for the rest of their lives.