Salt Lake City Teens Can Hit Snooze A Few More Times Next School Year

Starting in the fall, high schoolers in Salt Lake City will be able to hit snooze a few more times each morning, reported The Sal Lake Tribune.

All three traditional high schools in the city- East, West, and Highland- will start an hour later next year.

Junior at West High and student member of the district's board of education, Arundhati Oommen, said, "That's a pretty significant gain, so I'm happy with that."

Classes will now start at 8:45 a.m. and end at 3 p.m.

The current schedule has classes beginning at 7:45 a.m.

Research shows that later start times for teens can reduce sleep deprivation, which makes it less likely for high school students to experience anxiety and depression.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, teenagers need more sleep than children under the age of 10 due to the development of their brains.

Ronnie Stroud, a junior at West High, said, "It's hard to wake your brain up. I'm usually late to school and miss out on the first few minutes of classes.

The school district plans to evaluate the effects of the later start time throughout the year to see if the year of extra sleep benefits the students.

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