Jump-starting the day

March 14, 2018|Family Practice News

I’ve never been a fan of delayed school start times for high school students. The data just don’t impress me. But mostly I think delayed start times should be just one component of a broad community-wide initiative to address sleep hygiene that includes discussions about bedtimes, after-school schedules, and overuse of electronic devices. And I don’t see those discussions happening.

In most communities, delaying start times for adolescents will mean that younger children will be starting their school days earlier. Buses and drivers are finite and expensive resources that must be shared. Although I have heard it used as an argument against delayed school starts for high schoolers, an earlier start time for grade-school age children is not one of the downsides I include on my list of negatives. In fact, from my perspective, getting youngsters to school early is one of the few advantages of a delayed school start program for high school.

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Unless they have been up watching late night television with their parents, most young children hit the ground running as the sun peeks over the horizon. Keeping an energized youngster entertained and out of trouble until it is time to go to the bus stop can be a challenge. Too often parents resort to television or other electronic devices to bridge this gap between wake up and school start. For some reason, this boundless morning energy of youth isn’t directed toward the mundane tasks of eating breakfast and getting dressed.

I recently heard of an exercise program that harnesses this early-morning energy of youth with positive and not surprising results. Underwritten by the Reebok athletic footwear manufacturer, the BOKS (Build Our Kids’ Success) program began in 2009 when a group of mothers in Massachusetts organized a before-school activity program in their local grade school (“A before-school exercise program may help children thrive,” by Gretchen Reynolds, New York Times, Feb. 14, 2018). They may have been motivated primarily by the need to survive those difficult morning hours, but clearly they weren’t alone in their concerns, and the concept has spread to include 3,000 schools worldwide.