'Middle school students aren't getting enough sleep': Study suggests starting classes at 9 a.m.

Better adapt middle school to the rhythm of adolescents. A study conducted by the Scientific Council of National Education suggests that starting classes at 9 a.m. rather than 8 a.m. is beneficial for their learning and mental health , Le Parisien revealed this Friday, May 9. This is the first study conducted with a control group on the subject.

Around 86 middle school students, in Year 7 or Year 8, were able to take advantage of this extra hour of class time. These students were from the Sourdun boarding school in Seine-et-Marne. Two other classes in the same grade continued to attend classes at 8 a.m. at the same time.

Students in all four classes wore wrist activity monitors for 10 days at the beginning of the school year to measure their sleep . The young adolescents also underwent standardized cognitive tests to assess their mental health, according to the newspaper.

"Overall, middle school students do not get enough sleep , but not only the middle school students in our study, this is a finding made in all industrialized countries," Stéphanie Mazza, professor of neuropsychology at the INSPE of the University of Lyon 1 and sleep specialist, explained to BFMTV.

Specifically, "it's estimated that when you're a teenager, you're missing one to two hours of sleep per night on school nights," she says.

Why such a sleep deficit? The phenomenon is perfectly natural, according to the neuropsychologist. Indeed, "puberty changes the physiology of sleep," she explains. "With the hormonal load, adolescents will experience what we call a phase shift, meaning that naturally, they will become night owls and therefore have much more difficulty falling asleep at night," according to Stéphanie Mazza.

The problem is, during these teenage years, we should be sleeping more. "This is a period of life when we need a lot of sleep, since it is estimated that anything less than 8 hours of sleep per night will have consequences on the mental and physical health of these teenagers," explains the professor.

In detail, she estimates that up to the age of 14, "9 to 11 hours of sleep" per night are recommended and that for those over 14 and up to about twenty years old, it is necessary to sleep "8 to 10 hours of sleep per 24 hours".

However, "this phase shift doesn't mesh well with waking up very early in the morning because of classes," she says. Especially since "we can't make up for lost time on the weekend."

To this end, the scientist points out that in addition to the current study, "we already have several scientific data that have shown the effectiveness of shifting the start of class schedules for adolescents."

"This time lag allows them to gain sleep, but also improve their academic performance and mental health," emphasizes Stéphanie Mazza.

For parents who fear that their child will go to bed an hour later when classes start later, the expert is reassuring. "The difference in class times is generally not associated with an even greater difference in bedtime," she says, assuring that adolescents always tend to "go to bed at their physiological time."

Furthermore, the change in the pace of classes would mean that middle school students would not finish later. "In France, we have quite significant teaching hours during school hours," explains Stéphanie Muzza.

Emmanuel Macron announced in early May the launch of a citizens' convention on "children's time." School hours, as well as vacation time, are expected to be on the agenda for discussion.