That’s one conclusion made in a scientific paper published this week in the journal Neuroenocrinology Letters. And, surprise, school transportation finds itself smack dab in the middle of the issue of student education.
Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., found that the more hours that teenagers spend indoors, the more they miss out on the essential morning light that stimulates the body’s circadian rhythms, or sleep/wake cycles. Sponsored by the U.S. Green Building Council the Trans-National Institutes of Health Genes, Environment and Health Initiative, it’s the first field study to measure the impact of reduced morning blue light exposure on evening melatonin onset of teenagers attending school and the effect it can have on their classroom achievement.
“These morning-light-deprived teenagers are going to bed later, getting less sleep and possibly under-performing on standardized tests. We are starting to call this the teenage night owl syndrome,” Mariana Figueiro, Ph.D, an assistant professor and program director at RPI’s Lighting Research Center and the study’s lead researcher, said on the university’s Web site.
Over a five-day period, Dr. Figueiro and co-research Dr. Mark Rea studied outfitted 11 eighth graders with special glasses to prevent short-wavelength (blue) morning light from reaching their eyes. Those students experienced a 30-minute delay in sleep onset by the conclusion of the study.
The study found that the absence of blue light in the morning hours can delay by six minutes the onset of melatonin, the hormone that indicates to the body that it is nighttime and, hence, when it is time to go to sleep. Under normal conditions when the body receives proper sunlight in the morning, the body will produce melatonin on time, resulting in sleep typically about two hours later.
Dr. Figueiro added that today’s rigid schedules of middle and high school students require them to be in school very early in the morning. The finding resulted in LA Times writer Thomas H. Maugh II beginning his article today with the lede: “Riding in school buses in the early morning, then sitting in poorly lighted classrooms are the main reasons students have trouble getting to sleep at night, according to new research.”
What does this mean for school transportation? Brighter lights on board the school bus? Not likely. While the study could speak volumes to growing parental concerns about their teens going to bed too late, Dr. Figueiro also said that the study could impact future school design. And, if I may editorialize, could it also affect But it could affect future school bell times?
