Comment by gridlockd | Hacker News Reader

Comment by gridlockd | Hacker News Reader

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> School should start at a reasonable time. In my opinion, 8AM is too early. Kids that live far away have to wake up at 6AM, which is not a normal time judging by when kids wake up during summer break (9-10AM).

They wake up that late because they're staying up late. They should be waking up when the sun tells them to, and go to sleep when their body tells them to, which doesn't happen because they're surrounded by light that messes up their circadian rhythm. This has a huge impact on things like anxiety.

Consequently, there can't be one time that is optimal. Why do we work the hours that we do, year round? It doesn't make sense biologically, it's an artifact of industrialization.

https://www.washington.edu/news/2018/12/12/high-school-start...

> “Research to date has shown that the circadian rhythms of adolescents are simply fundamentally different from those of adults and children,” said lead author Gideon Dunster, a UW doctoral student in biology.

> “All of the studies of adolescent sleep patterns in the United States are showing that the time at which teens generally fall asleep is biologically determined — but the time at which they wake up is socially determined,” said Dunster. “This has severe consequences for health and well-being, because disrupted circadian rhythms can adversely affect digestion, heart rate, body temperature, immune system function, attention span and mental health.”

Seen similar information from other sources, but this came up first after a quick search. Of course screen light probably makes the problem worse, but there do seem to be significant biological factors.

There's a natural "bedtime shift" of 1-3h in adolescence, that doesn't mean it's natural for them to still be asleep when the sun is up.

The one thing that disrupts the circadian rhythm dramatically is light. This is well-established and also mentioned in the article you linked.

1-3h takes you from one side of 7AM to the other, which is generally when the sun rises around here.

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