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Stranger Than Fiction

Starting school later could boost the academic performance of students

Published:Thursday | August 18, 2022 | 10:25 AMBANG Bizarre

New research conducted in Brazil pushed back the school start time by one hour and analysed pupils' sleep, sleepiness, and emotional health.

The experts concluded that the adolescents felt less depressed, angry, tense, and fatigued at school following the time change.

The study has been led by Brazilian experts at the Federal University for Latin American Integration and could stake a claim for later school starting times across the globe.

The experts explained that the body's internal clock changes significantly during puberty and makes it hard for teens to stay awake in the morning.

The team says in their paper, which has been published in the journal Sleep Health: "Later school start time is effective to increase sleep duration, improve sleepiness, and mood profile.

"The findings presented in our study provide additional support to the growing amount of evidence on the positive outcomes of delaying school start time."

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