Research continues to support later start times for high school students: lack of sleep related to alcohol problems

Research has shown that changes in melatonin levels caused by puberty make it hard for teenagers to fall asleep at a normal time, and that a large percentage of high school students are sleep-deprived due to early start times for classes.

When will high schools take steps to protect the health of high school students--and, as a side benefit, raise their test scores?

Teens who skip sleep are more likely to have drinking problems later in life, researchers say

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2914789/STUDY-Teens-skip-sleep-likely-drinking-problems-later-life.html#ixzz3P6ssrkqf 

 

DailyMail

By Charlene Adams for MailOnline

17 January 2015

...Maria Wong, a psychologist at Idaho State University said, according to TIME magazine, that though sleep is not the only contributor to alcohol-related issues -- citing genetics and peer influence -- it is one of the contributors that can be controlled.

'This study shows that sleep issues can actually precede and even predict alcohol use later on,' Wong said. 'If we can make sure [teens] have enough sleep, we can help them make good choices.' 

Polls show that nearly 50 percent of adolescents don't get the recommended eight to 10 hours of sleep each night. 

Wong said that sleep deprivation could have dramatic affects on drinking behaviors. She said that each extra hour of sleep the teens in the study got, represented a 10 percent decrease in binge drinking. 

Meanwhile, the LA Times reports, evidence also shows a link between sleep deprivation and impaired cognitive functions. 

Student drunk at a party? This high school acts to make sure students drive themselves home instead of calling a friend

See all posts re zero tolerance.

Police e-mail surfaces backing high school athlete suspended for aiding drunk friend
By Michael Jaccarino
Published October 18, 2013
FoxNews.com

As the Massachusetts high school volleyball player suspended for coming to the aid of a boozed-up pal served out the final game of her punishment Friday, an e-mail penned by a police officer that appears to exonerate her has come to light.

North Andover High School’s Erin Cox was on the sidelines Wednesday for the Scarlet Knights’ most recent outing against rival Tewksbury, ESPNBoston.com reports. The 17-year-old suspended for five games and stripped of her captaincy reportedly cheered on her teammates in a straight-set win.

Meanwhile, the North Andover Citizen newspaper reports it obtained an e-mail sent by Boxford Police Officer Brian Neeley to the North Andover Public School administration in the wake of the party that sparked the national brouhaha.

In the electronic note, Neeley reportedly writes: “I responded with several other officers to an under aged party 732 Main St., Boxford. Erin Cox was one of many people under the age of 21 at the residence. I had the opportunity to speak with and observe Erin Cox while waiting for her mother to arrive.

“Erin did not have the slightest odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from her person. She was polite, articulate, steady on her feet, and very remorseful for her decision to go into the residence but was only helping out a friend that had called her for a ride. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.”

Cox was suspended for five games after coming to the aid of the drunken friend, who had requested a ride home. Minutes after Cox arrived, Boxford police did, as well. Students were either arrested or cited for underage possession of alcohol.

North Andover Public Schools Superintendent Kevin Hutchinson has remained intransigent despite the officer’s e-mail.

In a statement to FoxNews.com, Hutchinson wrote, “While some may decry the Administration’s actions as unfair or inconsistent with the principles of due process, our Administration wholeheartedly disagrees.

“To be clear, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has ruled that participation in interscholastic athletics is a privilege. Rather than simply revoking the privilege, our Administration has consistently afforded its student-athletes a reasonable opportunity to be heard before a disciplinary decision is made."

In another twist, a lawyer representing the Cox family tells FoxNews.com the suspension could derail Cox’s intent to play collegiate volleyball. Cox, according to statistics from Maxpreps.com, is an outstanding player who has accumulated 835 assists, 82 aces, 185 digs and 59 kills over 108 total varsity sets played.

“They aren’t sure and have gotten mixed answers,” says Wendy Murphy, the lawyer who sued the North Andover School District last week.

In response to the suit, a state judge ruled he had no jurisdiction. However, Murphy and Cox’s family have vowed to pursue the case – including actions against Principal Carla Scuzzarella and the District Attorney, Geoffrey Bok – in federal court.

The imbroglio has roiled community members such that a North Andover High School alum has begun an online petition drive in Cox’s name.

CBS News reports 33-year-old Matt Holland, himself a one-time school athlete, created the so-called, “Erin Cox Award for Exemplary Action,” on the site gofundme.com.

Holland told the news outlet his goal is to raise $1,000, which could then be used as a quasi-scholarship for Cox.

"I don't think they have the legal authority to do this," Holland reportedly said in reference to the school district, adding that as of Wednesday morning, his online effort had raised a total of $485.

As for Cox, ESPNBoston.com reports she will return to action Friday against Billerica. The senior, who has largely remained silent since the story broke, did speak to The Boston Herald on Sunday.

“I wasn’t drinking,” she reportedly said. “And I felt like going to get her was the right thing to do. Saving her from getting in the car when she was intoxicated and hurt herself or getting in the car with someone else who was drinking. I’d give her a ride home…I just feel very defeated. When you’re in high school you’re supposed to stay perfect and be perfect, but everyone makes mistakes.”

The Herald wrote that when asked whether should repeat her actions, Cox answered that she wouldn’t change a thing.

Life Spans Shrink for Least-Educated Whites in the U.S.

Here is more evidence about how much we harm children by failing to educate them.

Life Spans Shrink for Least-Educated Whites in the U.S.
By SABRINA TAVERNISE
New York Times
September 20, 2012

For generations of Americans, it was a given that children would live longer than their parents. But there is now mounting evidence that this enduring trend has reversed itself for the country’s least-educated whites, an increasingly troubled group whose life expectancy has fallen by four years since 1990.

Researchers have long documented that the most educated Americans were making the biggest gains in life expectancy, but now they say mortality data show that life spans for some of the least educated Americans are actually contracting. Four studies in recent years identified modest declines, but a new one that looks separately at Americans lacking a high school diploma found disturbingly sharp drops in life expectancy for whites in this group. Experts not involved in the new research said its findings were persuasive.

The reasons for the decline remain unclear, but researchers offered possible explanations, including a spike in prescription drug overdoses among young whites, higher rates of smoking among less educated white women, rising obesity, and a steady increase in the number of the least educated Americans who lack health insurance.

The steepest declines were for white women without a high school diploma, who lost five years of life between 1990 and 2008, said S. Jay Olshansky, a public health professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the lead investigator on the study, published last month in Health Affairs. By 2008, life expectancy for black women without a high school diploma had surpassed that of white women of the same education level, the study found.

White men lacking a high school diploma lost three years of life. Life expectancy for both blacks and Hispanics of the same education level rose, the data showed. But blacks over all do not live as long as whites, while Hispanics live longer than both whites and blacks...