For those of you who have teenagers at home, you are no doubt aware of the struggle to get them up out of bed in time for school.
However, it seems that we're doing them more harm than good by trying to get them to class on time, with studies linking obesity and depression with excessively early start times, according to the Independent.
In fact, results from a new study by the Open University on the effects of school times, found that 13- to 16-year-olds would be better off starting at the later time of 10am.
“The big issue about school times is health,” said Dr Paul Kelley, lead author of the study, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.
“It starts with physical illness, and then there’s mental illness, and last but not least academic performance.”
The four-year observational study carried out in a high school in England, changed start times for students from 8:50am in year 0 to 10am in years 1-2 and then back to 8:50am in year 3.
The results found that the new later start saw "a decrease in student illness after two years of over 50%", and an improvement in academic performance.
What do you think? Would your teen benefit from a later start, do you think?
