In a society where more is expected of teenage students and school work is more difficult than that of previous generations, the school day needs to start and end later . Early start times have created negative psychological effects in adolescent students. Not only that, but other schools across the country have made later-starting school schedules possible without having to eliminate the athletics program. Early start times have also been shown to cause lower achievement levels in students. In short, it is possible to start school at a later time while maintaining the school's athletics program and improving each student's well-being and future. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Biologically, a teenager's body cannot begin to relax at seven in the evening like a normal adult. Physically, it takes longer for someone in their teens to fall asleep until much later in the night. So, since teens fall asleep late at night and wake up around 6 a.m. on average, it is difficult for teens to get enough sleep (Stanford). Teens sleep about 6.5 hours a night on average. In the teenage years, teenagers should receive at least 9.5 hours of sleep. Science Daily surveyed 280 teenage students and found that “78% of students said it was difficult to get up in the morning… Only 16% said they regularly got enough sleep… 70% thought their grades they would have improved if they had slept more... [and ] 90% believe that their academic performance would improve if school started later.” Not only that, but these “teens interviewed said they didn't feel alert during tests during the early hours of the morning and didn't think they could reach the peak of their abilities during the early hours of the morning.” It would help adolescents get more sleep, but it would also prevent adolescents from suffering harmful psychological effects. Psychologist James B. Maas of Cornell University believed that “almost all adolescents, when they reach puberty, become walking zombies because they get too little sleep. Even some of our nation's top sleep experts believe that adolescent students need more sleep to function properly during the school day. Sufficient sleep is critical to improving student achievement levels, which will ultimately lead to grades better (Carpenter, APA). Studies have been conducted in states across the country to see if later start times are truly better for students. Some Minnesota schools have changed their start times from 7:15 to 8:40 or 7:25 to 8:30. Statistics had shown that “students in a school with an 8:37 start time slept about an hour more, had less difficulty staying awake in school, and had better grades than students in a school with a 7:15 start time.” (Cline, Psychology Today). Although students have shown improvements in functioning and better grades, people have complained that the late start time interferes with sports and parents' schedules. One problem people have with delaying the school day is that it interferes with the after-school sports program. But for sports teams that would normally start after school, it would make sense to move practices or meetings before the start of school, when the normal school day would begin. After-school activities can also.