During puberty, the brain's clock shifts. Melatonin — the chemical that tells your body it's time to sleep — begins releasing roughly two hours later than it did in childhood and roughly two hours later than it will when you're thirty.
This is not a moral failing. It is not a discipline problem. It is biology, observed in every adolescent ever measured, in every country with a school system.
What this means for first period
If your biological body wants to fall asleep at 12:30 a.m. and a teenager needs nine hours of sleep, then waking up for a 7:30 a.m. class is, neurologically, equivalent to waking an adult at 4:30 a.m. and asking them to take a calculus exam.
“When school districts move their start times to 8:30 a.m. or later, every measurable health and academic outcome improves. Every single one.”Twenty years of school-start-time studies
What you can do tonight
- Phone in another room. Not face down on the desk — in another room.
- Lights down ninety minutes before bed. Bright light tells your retina it is daytime.
- Caffeine has a half-life of six hours. A 4 p.m. coffee is still in your system at 10 p.m.
Founder & editor of BrainsForYouth.