2020 California Student Mental Wellness Conference

Chronic insufficient sleep among teens is a public health epidemic. Sleep loss among teens is strongly linked with a host of negative outcomes ranging from poorer academic performance to poorer mental health, including increased risk of suicidality, and poorer physical health, including increased risk of obesity and athletic injuries. Several decades of research demonstrates that the conflict between early school start times and adolescents’ sleep-wake biology is a major factor contributing to the epidemic of insufficient sleep among teens. School districts and policymakers across the United States are beginning to understand and address the need for teenagers to get more sleep, including landmark legislation in California that mandates healthy school start times for secondary students across the state. This presentation will focus on the science of adolescent sleep, the consequences of teen sleep loss, and the benefits of later school start times for adolescents as a backdrop for understanding California’s Healthy School Start Times Law.