Delay school hours to tackle sleep deprivation among children

MUMBAI: Indian students who dread not making it to school before the 6.55am assembly bell, may find it comforting that a British scientist wants to prove that schools deprive children of much-needed sleep by starting early.

Oxford University professor Paul Kelly, who is working along with American scientists at Harvard University, told the recently held British Science Fair that children aged eight to 10 should start school at 8.30am or later, 16-year-olds should start at 10am, and 18-year-olds at 11am. Why? Kelley has, in a research paper published last year, calculated that British children lose around 10 hours of sleep every week.

Considering that children across the world are hooked on to their mobile phones and iPads, the sleep deprivation state may not differ much for Indian children. As sleep deprivation is emerging as one of the risk factors for disease ranging from diabetes to obesity to depression, Kelly wants to start trials under the ongoing TeenSleep project across 100 schools on various school-start timings.

In India, where most schoolchildren leave home for school even before the sun is up, the new western thought got mixed reactions: some experts, including doctors and principals, agreed that children were sleep-deprived but felt that changing timings would not be easy.


"I had mooted the idea in medical circles years back because children are increasingly not sleeping enough through the night, but there was not response," said sleep specialist Dr Ramanathan Iyer, who is attached to L H Hiranandani Hospital, Powai.

Meenakshi Walke, principal, V N Sule, School, Dadar, said, "It will definitely help if students come to class when they have had a good sleep but schools in Mumbai run in double shifts due to lack of space, traffic during peak hours and non-availability of extra-curricular activities in school." Moreover, if students finish school in the morning, they can enroll for various other activities, including tutorial classes, in the second half of the day. Dr Shashank Joshi, endorcrinologist with Lilavati Hospital, Bandra, said the problem in India is that children have a parallel schooling system. "They have to go for classes after school, which cuts down on their leisure time. They are addicted to gadgets, which further cuts into their sleep time," said Dr Joshi, adding that obesity and memory problems, too, are tied to poor sleep cycles.

A study conducted four years ago by sleep specialist Dr Preeti Devnani from Jaslok Hospital, Pedder Road, found that eight out of every 10 teenagers suffered from sleep deprivation. "Children and adolescents stay up late due to reasons like working parents coming home late, other social lifestyles and biological changes that take place during puberty," she said.

There is growing awareness that poor REM (rapid eye movement) sleep is at the centre of all problems. REM sleep sets in after around 90 minutes of sleep and a person typically experiences four to five REM cycles every night. Various theories exist about the need for REM sleep, including it’s time for the neurons to reboot or consolidate memory or production of certain proteins. Essentially, shorter lenghth of sleep means poor REM sleep.

The reason professor Kelly’s idea may not make sense to Indians is that parents want early school. A Khar-based school’s principal said, "We thought that younger students will benefit if we call them in the afternoon shift and so we proposed it to the Parents Teachers Association at the beginning of the academic year. It did not suit the parents’ work schedules and it probably interfered with private tuitions that teachers give after class," said the principal who did not wished to be named.

Principals say a later start to school days would help a child’s all-round development. "Schools should ideally start around 8.30am and should be like a day boarding where students don’t just study academics. If this happens, the extra burden of private training for sports or activities or coaching classes will not exist. Children can spend the evening playing outdoors, which is lacking," said Amita Katyal, former principal, Pawar Public School, Kandivli. "Working parents and children don’t see each other for days together. Starting schools late might give them some time together in the morning."

But Dr Iyer believes it would be easier for parents and schools to improve the sleep hygiene among children. "Instead of watching TV or playing with their phones, children should be encouraged to sleep between 8.30pm and 9.m and wake up by 5.30am," he said. "Also late night television viewing exposes the retina to bright light which can inhibit the release of melatonin (a hormone that regulates sleep and wake cycles) and delay the sleep onset further," he said. Dr Joshi said Indians would take an advice to chill too literally. "If you tell Indians to sleep an extra hour, they will sleep-in the whole day."