Few teenagers can claim to be wide-eyed and excited when their alarm goes off in the morning.

However, scientists have determined that this is due to the fact that most teenagers’ biological clocks are naturally inclined to fall asleep and wake up later. Generally, most teenagers find it difficult to fall asleep before 11 p.m. no matter how tired they may be.

Since teens are programmed to wake up later in the morning, forcing them out of bed and into class before they’re ready results in half-awake teens who can barely stay awake, much less be able to understand a complicated lesson.

A marked 43 states in the United States have school districts that have pushed their start times back until after 8:30.

Those schools have reported an increase in attendance and grades received on standardized tests. They’ve also noted a decrease in car accidents and caffeine and substance abuse.

If school started later, after-school practices would be forced to run later as well, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

The outdoor sports offered in high school are generally only played in the fall and spring when, especially in Texas, the afternoon temperatures are scorching. Pushing practices until later will be beneficial to the players since it will be much cooler throughout practice, which will mean they spend less time taking breaks to cool down.

Other extracurricular team events like one act play or tennis that usually don’t have practices until later won’t have to change the time they start or end, so students’ could still make it home at their usual time.

Still some people have concerns about teens’ employers taking advantage of the later start and making their employees work later, but places of emploment that work teens late already have them work until close, so they wouldn’t have to stay any later than they do now, and they would get a couple extra hours of sleep.

Teens that live outside of Archer have to wake up as early as 4:50 in the morning to get to early-morning athletic practices and leave by 7:10 for regular school days. Sleep-deprived teens behind the wheel of a car are dangerous. Schools that have pushed their start times back have reported fewer student car accidents than schools who start earlier.

Students in this school have admitted to falling asleep at the wheel, and just last year, a student was in a car accident on her way to school.

Many students who struggle to finish their homework will now have extra time in the morning for any last-minute studying or to finish a homework assignment.

Not only is lack of sleep a health issue for teens, but teens that skip out on breakfast are missing many nutrients that are vital to their health and school performance.

With an extra hour or two, teens would have time to eat a filling, nutritious breakfast that will aide in energizing them for their day.

Delaying school an hour or two would have some drawbacks such as transportation for the teens whose working parents bring them to school, but the benefits to the health and educational abilities of teens outweigh the limitations.