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Adolescents need 9 to 9.5 hours of sleep, optimally between 11 pm and 7 am. Yet, school schedules and lifestyles usually do not allow for a relatively late wake time. These researchers investigated the effect of delaying school start time from 8 to 8:30 am at a private boarding school (grades 9–12; 82% boarders). Before and after the 2-month intervention, 201 participants (56% of eligible students) completed online sleep and behavior questionnaires. Researchers also examined effects on health visits, absences, and academic records.
After 2 months of delayed school start time, mean total sleep time on school nights increased by 45 minutes, and mean bedtime occurred 18 minutes earlier. The percentage of participants getting less than 7 hours o…