Starting the school day later may be beneficial to high school students, according to findings published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. In fact, researchers have found that a delayed start time can improve alertness, mood and overall health.

During a recent study, researchers observed how delaying morning classes by 30 minutes would affect more than 200 high school students. Following the time change, participants were asked to complete an online survey about how they felt before and after the delay start time of their school days.

Students reported that following the time change, they were more motivated and slept better during the week. Also, results of the surveys showed that individuals were less fatigued, drowsy and experienced less signs of depression.

Furthermore, the number of students who were sleeping at least eight hours per night increased from 16.4 to 54.7 percent, while individuals who averaged less than seven hours of sleep decreased by 79.4 percent.

Kyla Wahlstrom, a researcher at the University of Minnesota, stated that “teenagers need and deserve [the] best informed thinking about all of this, [and] having the facts in hand is the best place to start.” She added that later start times may lead to “several significant academic effects, such as decreasing the dropout rate, but a direct correlation between later start time and academic achievement on normed tests has not been substantiated.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, adolescents need approximately 8 1/2 to 9 hours of sleep per night.