Later School Start Times as a Public Health Intervention to Promote Sleep Health in Adolescents

Purpose of ReviewPoor sleep health in adolescence has long-lasting, and adverse effects on many aspects of health and functioning. Multiple factors impact sleep in adolescence including individual and family-level factors. However, early school start times are the one policy-level, and possibly the most salient environmental factor that constrains adolescent sleep at a population level.Recent FindingsDelaying school start times could be an effective strategy to promote sleep health and consequently, functioning, and physical and mental health among adolescents. Growing evidence suggests that adolescents at later-starting schools sleep longer on weekdays, have higher attendance and graduation rates, and fewer mental health symptoms compared to their peers at earlier-starting schools.This paper reviews a summary of recent key findings and discusses future steps in translating the school start time research into policy.