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Katie Adams

Mrs. Jackie Burr

English 1010, Section 3

28 November 2018

The Effects of Sleep on Suicide Risk Among High School Students and

The Benefits of a Later School Starting Time

“One in 10 [teenagers] get the 8 to 10 hours of sleep per night recommended by sleep

scientists and pediatricians” according to a recent Tedx talk given by Dr. Wendy Troxel, a sleep

researcher. In this talk Troxel explains the necessity for schools to start later and benefits of

doing so. She mentions a study with more than 30,000 high school students that found that “for

each hour of lost sleep, there was a 38% increase and feeling sad or hopeless, and a 58% increase

in teen suicide attempts.” This means that if a teenager loses only two hours of sleep their risk of

committing suicide more than doubles. She continues on to talk about the physical health benefit

of a later start time as well as the benefit in school and academic performance. Troxel addresses

the concern that if schools started later than teens would go to bed later, but she explains that

their bedtimes stayed the same and they just get more sleep. She concludes by saying that high

school and middle school start times should be no earlier than 8:30am.

Circadian rhythm is defined as “a day-night cycle of biological activity that occurs

approximately every 24 hours” (Berger 322). During high school years, hormones cause a delay

in this sleep cycle causing teenagers to be wide awake late at night and half asleep in the

morning (Berger 322). Teenagers naturally fall asleep around 11 at night.Because of the

biological sleep cycle delay, teenagers often have trouble falling asleep in time to get the
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recommended amount of sleep each night while still waking up early to go to school. This causes

both physical and mental problems for the teenager. The National Sleep Foundation reported that

only 15% of teenagers were getting the 8 ½ hours needed on school nights (“Teens and Sleep”).

During adolescence the body rapidly changes and grows, this causes the need for more sleep, so

the body is able to develop properly.

Because this matter deals with the loss of lives, it should be of utmost importance.

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), ​ “Suicide is the third leading cause of death

for youth between the ages of 10 and 24, and results in approximately 4,600 lives lost each year”

and many more hospitalizations because of attempts (“Suicide Among Youth”) ​By extending

school start times past 8:30am, suicide rates among high school students will and have gone

down. The tragic amount of lives taken by teenage suicide each year is evidence that action must

be taken, and because of countless studies done on the effects of sleep deprivation among

adolescents, the easiest thing to change, to have nationwide improvement, is school start times.

By starting school at 8:30am, students can fall asleep when their bodies naturally do, and get the

minimum recommended amount of sleep for their age. Because studies have shown that many

contributors to an increased teenage suicide risk are due to sleep deprivation, a nationwide policy

should be put in place to extend school start times to be at or later than 8:30am.

Because of the biological delay in the sleep cycle, many teenagers do not get enough

quality sleep which increases their suicide risk. According to a study done with almost 60,000

high school aged students, Yoojung Kim et al. found that the suicide ideation of students who

slept less than four hours was about twice as high as those who slept for nine hours. In this study

they assessed “youth risk behavior” using an online survey they created that took into account
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many different aspects of the participants’ lives. The main categories of the survey are as

follows: psychological factors, family factors, and external factors. Psychological factors

included things like low self-esteem, depression, and stress. Family factors including things like

family support, in living with both parents. External factors including things like school live,

friends, and relationships (“Sleep and Suicidal Ideation” 214-217). By taking into account many

different aspects of the student’s lives, his results were accurate and incredibly specific. Kim

suggests that it is easier for adolescents to suffer from sleep deprivation because “bedtimes

become later but school time is fixed” (“Sleep and Suicidal Ideation” 214). By setting school

times later, students can effortlessly get more sleep on a regular basis. Researchers in an article

from ​Psychiatric News ​support Kim’s findings when Dr. Charles Czeisler expresses that when

someone wakes up after only 5 to 6 hours of sleep they lose a considerable amount of REM sleep

which is crucial to countless functions of the brain (para. Lamberg). This indicates that, as a

result of sleep deprivation, teenagers lose hours of REM sleep that their body needs to help their

brain do normal functions. Because Kim’s study was done on an extensive amount of students, it

plainly shows how and why students need more sleep:

“This suggests clearly and strongly how important it is to achieve a satisfying sleep as

well as to extend sleep duration in order to prevent adolescents’ suicidal ideation. Sleep

disturbances may damage individuals’ emotional regulation, impulse control, and

problem-solving ability, which in turn increases the risk of adolescent suicidality”.

(“Sleep and Suicidal Ideation” 217)

The amount of sleep a teenager receives directly affects many aspects of their lives, and it is

important to be aware and track the amount of sleep they get to be able to assess their risk of

suicide. Teenagers would be able to get more quality sleep if school started later.

Another problem that increases adolescent suicide risk, because of sleep deprivation, is

energy drinks. In a study on whether or not high energy drink intake could be associated with

stress, poor academic performance, sleep deprivation, and suicide attempts, So Young Kim et al.

surveyed 121,106 adolescents with questions relating to these topics. The results of the study

found that energy drink intake was directly proportional to high stress, poor academic

performance, and lack of sleep. The frequency of suicide attempts also increased as energy drink

intake increased (“High Energy Drink Intake in Adolescents” 3-5). This shows that teenagers are

trying to make up for their lack of sleep by consuming drinks with high amounts of caffeine.

However, because of the caffeine in their systems, teenagers start to feel tired even later than

their biological clock. This problem further worsens the situation, and teens become reliant and

addicted to caffeine. Both behaviors, sleep deprivation and energy drink intake, increase the risk

of suicide. In the Ted talk by Troxel, she also discusses the use of caffeine to compensate for

sleep loss. She says excessive caffeine consumption creates “ an entire population of tired but

wired youth”. If school started later, teens would not feel the need to take in so much caffeine

and other harmful chemicals into their bodies.

Insufficient sleep among adolescents damages their emotional regulation which leads to

increased suicide risk. Katherine T. Baum et al. conducted a study to see how a student’s

restricted sleep schedule affects their mood compared to the recommended amount of sleep for

teenagers. The study involved 50 healthy youth allowed to sleep only 6.5 hours during a school
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week and then allowed 10 hours the next school week. To compare the difference between the

weeks, their moods were assessed by the student and their parents (182-186). During the

restricted sleep schedule week “adolescents rated themselves as significantly more tense/anxious,

angry/hostile, confused, and fatigued, and as less vigorous,” (see figure 1) and their parents

“reported greater oppositionality/irritability and poorer emotional regulation” (Baum 180). When

a sleep schedule is restricted like this for long periods of time, the adolescent’s emotional

regulation continues to decline. Many teenagers are constantly on this restricted sleep schedule

due to their biological clock and early school start times. Unhealthy emotional regulation not

only leads to depression, but also has long lasting negative effects.

Figure 1. How the students rated their emotions during the sleep restriction week and the healthy

sleep week. (Baum 185)

Dr. Ronald E. Dahl analyzes some of the consequences of inadequate sleep in teenagers. Dahl

mentions that insufficient sleep causes teenagers to lack the motivation to complete goals,

become frustrated easier, make impulsive decisions, and have lower self-esteem (355). These

destructive characteristics can become habits and carry on into adulthood. All of these symptoms

can also lead to depression and suicide among adolescents. Because these characteristics lead to

suicide, teens who do not get enough sleep are at a higher risk of attempting suicide compared to

those who get the recommended amount of sleep. Sleep deprivation damages teenager’s

emotional regulation which is why the United States should extend public school start times to

be at 8:30am.

Diminished academic performance causes a higher risk of suicide due to sleep

deprivation. Brown University published an article that discusses the advantages of later school

start times and said, “ In addition to the effects on physical and mental health, research has also

shown that inadequate sleep has a major impact on learning, memory, motivation, and academic

performance” (Boergers 4). Sleep truly does impact all aspects of the day. It is known that

insufficient sleep causes worse academic performance, but when students perform worse than

normal it increases their risk of suicide due to stress and other factors. This creates a destructive

cycle that leads to higher suicide risk among high school students. In a study done by Dr. Priti

Arun et al. on stress and suicide risk in youth with academic difficulty, they tested students with

varying academic levels in public and private schools. Stress surveys and general health surveys

were used to assess the students. They found that students who were academic achieving had

higher stress levels and suicidal ideation compared to students who did worse academically

(65-67). When students who are normally more advanced academically do worse as a result of
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sleep deprivation, it raises their stress level. These high stress levels put the student at an

increased risk of suicide. The student also fails to reach their full academic potential which could

negatively affect their entire life. School should start later, so students can get a healthy amount

of sleep and lessen their risk of suicide.

In conclusion, The United States should implement a nationwide policy to have school

start no earlier than 8:30am because studies show that many of the contributors to an increased

adolescent suicide risk are due to sleep deprivation. The number of teenage lives lost each year

due to suicide is unacceptable, especially when not everything that could be done is done. Plus,

the abundant amount of research done on ways to minimize the risk of suicide by letting

teenagers sleep in is supported by countless medical professional who are pleading for schools to

to extend their start time by just a hour or more. Although some adjustments will need to be

made to accommodate this new change, like bussing schedules and amount of class time, the

reward will greatly outweigh the challenges. If there is a nationwide law put in place, then it will

be easier for public schools to make this shift. Government enforcement will ensure that each

teeneager has the ability to get a fair amount of sleep each night, particularly on school nights.

Students should feel like going to school makes a positive impact on their life, but currently their

overall being and proper development is negatively affected. If we choose not to extend school to

start times, there will be many consequences. The suicide rate among adolescents will continue

to rise and academic performance, physical health, and mental health will continue to decrease.

If this policy is not implemented more teenage lives will be lost. Further research should be done

to find out what needs to take place in order to make the shift in start time as smooth as possible.
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Hopefully, if the United States makes the change, other countries will soon follow, and suicide

will decrease across the globe.

Works Cited

Arun, Priti, et al. “Stress and Suicidal Ideation among Adolescents Having Academic

Difficulty.”

Industrial Psychiatry Journal​, vol. 26, no. 1, Jan. 2017, pp. 64–70. ​EBSCOhost,​

doi:10.4103/ipj.ipjpass:[_]5_17.

Baum, Katherine T., et al. “Sleep Restriction Worsens Mood and Emotion Regulation in

Adolescents.” ​Journal Of Child Psychology And Psychiatry, And Allied Disciplines,​ vol.

55, no. 2, 2014, pp. 180–190. ​EBSCOhost​, doi:10.1111/jcpp.12125.

Berger, Kathleen S. ​Invitation to The Life Span.​ 2nd ed. New York: Worth Publishers, 2014.

Print.

Boergers, Julie. “Benefits of Later School Start Times.” ​Brown University Child & Adolescent

Behavior Letter,​ vol. 31, no. 1, Jan. 2015, pp. 1–6. ​EBSCOhost​, doi:10.1002/cbl.30008.

Dahl, Ronald E. “The Consequences of Insufficient Sleep for Adolescents: Links Between Sleep

and Emotional Regulation.” ​Phi Delta Kappan​, vol. 80, no. 5, Jan. 1999, pp. 354–59.

EBSCOhost​,search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ579411&site

=ehost-live.

Kim, So Young, et al. “High Stress, Lack of Sleep, Low School Performance, and Suicide

Attempts Are Associated with High Energy Drink Intake in Adolescents.” ​Plos One,​ vol.

12, no. 11, Nov. 2017, p. e0187759. ​EBSCOhost,​ doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0187759.

Lamberg, Lynne. “Could Later School Start Times Improve Adolescent Health?” ​Psychiatric

News.​ American Psychiatric Association, 17 Aug. 2017. Web. 14 Nov. 2018.

“Suicide Among Youth.” ​CDC.​ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 15 Sept. 2017.

Web.

27 Nov. 2018.

“Teens and Sleep.” ​National Sleep Foundation​. National Sleep Foundation, n.d. Web. 29

Nov. 2018.

Troxel, Wendy. “Sleepy teens: A public health epidemic.” ​Youtube​. Youtube, 1 Dec. 2016. Web.

27 Nov. 2018.

Yoonjung Kim, et al. “Associations between Adolescents’ Sleep Duration, Sleep Satisfaction,

and Suicidal Ideation.” ​Salud Mental​, vol. 39, no. 4, July 2016, pp. 213–219.

EBSCOhost​, doi:10.17711/SM.0185-3325.2016.025.