Later School Start Times as a Public Health Intervention to Promote Sleep Health in Adolescents

Abstract

Purpose of Review: Poor sleep health in adolescence has long-lasting, and adverse effects on many aspects of health and functioning. Multiple factors impact sleep in adolescence including individual and family-level factors. However, early school start times are the one policy-level, and possibly the most salient environmental factor that constrains adolescent sleep at a population level. Recent Findings: Delaying school start times could be an effective strategy to promote sleep health and consequently, functioning, and physical and mental health among adolescents. Growing evidence suggests that adolescents at later-starting schools sleep longer on weekdays, have higher attendance and graduation rates, and fewer mental health symptoms compared to their peers at earlier-starting schools. Summary: This paper reviews a summary of recent key findings and discusses future steps in translating the school start time research into policy.