The Washington Post (3/26, Ellison) reported, “Sleep-deprived adolescents – forced for generations to wake for school before the chimes of their circadian clocks – have had an unexpected break amid the anxiety and losses of the pandemic,” as “remote learning has allowed many of them to stay in bed an extra hour or more, providing a ‘natural experiment’ that sleep experts hope will inform the long and stubborn debate over school starting times.” But “so far, many results are anecdotal.” While “some kids are sleeping longer and more soundly, starting classes ready and refreshed,” other kids “are tossing and turning, beset by anxiety or staying up later staring at screens.” But these “varying experiences offer families and schools a glimpse of the effects of later schedules – and the possibility that the past year will yield enough evidence to persuade schools to follow scientists’ guidance to begin the school day no earlier than 8:30 a.m.”
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