To the editor: As the school committee prepares to discuss a later school start time for our teens we need to remember that ultimately, our children need to get an adequate amount of sleep in order to function in every aspect of their lives: in school, on the field, in their jobs, behind the wheel, etc.  

Adolescents need 9 to 9.5 hours sleep per night and only 20% get this much. In communities that delayed school start times by even a half hour, teens slept 45 to 60 minutes more. Their tardiness rates dropped, class sleepiness dropped, SAT scores went up. What's more the percentage of teens involved in car accidents also decreased, as did their rates of anxiety and depression.

Some believe that if you start school later kids will just go to bed later.  The reality is that teens are biologically challenged to go to bed early and wake up early. Circadian rhythms set their sleep onset 12-18 minutes later in every year of adolescence making it harder and harder for them to get up early. In communities that have delayed school start times it turns out that bedtimes do not shift later but wake times do.

Trying to sleep when out of synch with your biological clock leads to less sleep time and poorer quality sleep. Trying to wake up and function when your body clock is still in sleep mode leads to inattentiveness and poor performance, especially in the early classes.

Our teens are chronically sleep-deprived and disadvantaged by a school schedule that sets them up to underperform. This is not an experiment. The American Academy of Pediatrics has issued a policy statement supporting delayed school start times and many progressive school systems across the country have already done this. We need to work out the logistics that will allow our Barrington teens the same opportunity to live healthier schedules and get more out of their education.

Carla Martin, MD Internal Medicine/Pediatrics Michael Johnson, MD Internal Medicine Barrington