Eastbayri.com

BARRINGTON — To the editor:

I very much appreciate all of the conversation that has been generated by the school start forum on Jan. 26. The forum was meant to start a community level conversation while also educating the community about the importance of sleep and the physiology of sleep, and in that respect, it succeeded.

Unfortunately, the discussion about the science seems to have been clouded by the logistical and philosophical concerns around teenagers, children and sleep, with comments that hark back to Ben Franklin’s “Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise;” concerns that change would completely disrupt the “real world;” and, statements that the youngest members of our community have “been ignored.”

We need to go back to the science that started the conversation.

First, sleep is as important to good health as eating a balanced diet and getting plenty of exercise.

From kindergarten on, children, adolescents and young adults need 9 to 10 hours of sleep to function at their best. It has been established by many studies, many of them done by Dr. Mary Carskadon at Brown University. The science is solid, repeatable, and respected at many levels.

However, while the natural bed time determined by the internal circadian rhythm of children before puberty is around 8 p.m., the natural bed time of adolescents from mid-puberty on moves closer to 11 p.m. Our elementary-aged children are still wired to go to bed around 8 p.m., get up around 6 or 7 a.m., and be ready to learn as early as 7:30. With current start times, Barrington adolescents would need to fall asleep at 8:30 p.m. to get the recommended amount of sleep, a need in direct contradiction to their circadian rhythms.

What does that mean? It means we’re spending over 40 million dollars to educate our children, and over half of them (6-12th grade) are not ready to learn at their full potential for the first hour or two of every school day. It’s like paying your oil bill, turning on the furnace, and opening the windows.

It means that we are creating an environment in which our adolescents are sleep deprived. Sleep deprivation puts them at increased risk for obesity, depression, car accidents, and substance abuse. It also makes them (as it does all of us) less efficient, less happy, less tolerant, and less attentive to detail. Just look at the results of the National Sleep Foundation’s 2006 Sleep in America Poll to see the effects.

The science supports change. Human nature struggles with change. But with support from the community at many levels, creativity around problem solving, and constantly remembering that the greater good should always outweigh individual inconvenience, this change is something that Barrington can figure out for the long term benefit of all, especially our students.

Sincerely,

Megan Douglas, MD, MPH

Barrington