This legislative session in Texas, HB 1602 - 'the Healthy School Hours' Bill - was introduced to the House of Representatives. The bill would prevent all public schools in Texas from starting instruction before 8 am.
At the bill's hearing, Start School Later chapter leaders, a NAMI policy lead and a Santa Fe High School student testified in support of it. You can watch the bill's hearing in the Committee on Public Education here and read my testimony below:
My name is Alexandra Wharton; I’m the chapter leader for Start School Later Greater Austin with a young son in the local school district.
I’m here today to support HB 1602, which is a groundbreaking piece of public health and child protection legislation.
Delaying school start times to 8 a.m. or later has been identified as a key factor for addressing teen sleep deprivation.
Unfortunately, almost 40% of all Texas schools require students to be in their seats and ready to learn in the 7 a.m. hour.
Early school start times prevent teens from getting the 9 hours of sleep their brains and bodies need. This endangers their growth and development, and sets them up for lifelong physical and mental health problems – ranging from diabetes to depression.
By the time this hearing began, many Texas students have been in school for 3 hours. We are expecting more our children than we expect from adults.
Why not “ just go to bed earlier?” The majority of teens cannot fall asleep before 11 pm or midnight.
When teens reach puberty, their internal clocks, which control their circadian rhythms, become delayed by at least two hours.
Teens are hardwired to have a later onset of melatonin, and therefore, a later onset of sleep. This is NOT an issue of willpower or discipline.
Blaming blue light from screens is not accurate. This delayed shift in teen sleep has been documented in undeveloped communities where there is no artificial light whatsoever.
The latest research finds that the root cause of ADHD is a lack of regular circadian sleep, which causes a misalignment of biological processes.
The 2017 Nobel Prize for Medicine was awarded to American researchers studying how circadian rhythms are critical to overall mental and physical health.
Attached is the bus pick-up schedule for Bluebonnet Elementary School in Bastrop ISD – the top line shows the 5:30 am bus stop pickup time for its students.
Because of early school start times, children as young as 6 years old are regularly prescribed Clonidine, a sedative, so that they can fall asleep early enough to get adequate sleep.
And these same children are prescribed Adderall, an amphetamine, so they can be alert in their early morning classes.
Certainly this is contributing to the mental health problems that are on the rise in our schools today.
Please support HB 1602 for delaying school start times in Texas.
Thank you.
