Sleep Is Integral to School Health and Adolescent Wellbeing: An Evidence-Based Call to Action.

BACKGROUND

Sleep is essential for healthy growth and function. Sleepiness is common in middle and high school classrooms; many adolescents struggle to receive sufficient, well-timed sleep.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THEORY: We provide a discussion of theory and policy ramifications of adolescent sleep science. We provide a unified overview of sleep's benefits for physical and mental health, safety, alertness, learning, and school performance. We outline the developmental biological-social-societal interplay influencing sleep in adolescents. We discuss the impact of changing school start times on sleep health and factors relating to school-related sleep equity. We discuss the success of changing school start times, sleep-health education, and how science-informed policies can combine later start times with educational and behavioral supports.

IMPLICATIONS FOR SCHOOL HEALTH POLICY, PRACTICE, AND EQUITY: Ignoring sleep compromises students' and schools' success. Improving the opportunity for sleep, primarily through altering school start times, yields healthier and more productive students. Whether action manifests in the classroom, school, district, or state, the health of students-and schools-improves when policies offer adolescents opportunities to obtain the sleep they need.

CONCLUSIONS

Underscoring sleep's critical role in school performance, the evidence calls on educators and policymakers to address chronic sleep deprivation and its consequences for adolescents.