Sleep and traffic

Time to act on sleep

Much to my delight, last week a Sydney sleep research team has backed calls for the NSW State Government to trial later starting times for students - not for all the reasons that psychologists like Andrew Fuller have been calling for, but in a bid to ultimately take thousands of buses off the road during morning peaks.

The Sydney Business Chamber has asked the Government to consider the trial, saying there needs to be creative thinking and new incentives to change transport demand patterns. The previous government Labor government had also agreed to look into the trial.

The Chamber executive director Patricia Forsythe has acknowledged that later high school starting times will not only lessen pressure during peak periods but may also help in the development of teenagers.

Given that one in five Australian high-school students do not get enough sleep and have less than the international guidelines of 9.5 hours for school nights, it is entirely unsurprising that the Glebe-based Woolcock Institute of Medical Research has supported the idea of a trial.

The problem is that current school start times prevent many young people from sleeping in to obtain the sleep they need, creating the situation where teenagers are now regarded by experts as the most chronically sleep-deprived part of the population.

This lack of quality sleep not only affects teens' daily functioning but is also associated with increased risk of serious psychological and physical ill-health including depression, substance abuse, obesity and diabetes.

As a Melboure-based adolescent psychologist who frequently gets stuck in Sydney traffic, I find it hard to believe that this idea would not receive the unanimous support from Sydney-siders, since the the traditional approach of putting on more trains, buses and more lanes on roads does not seem to be working.

Sadly, Education Minister Adrian Piccoli does not support the idea of the trial saying it was not currently under consideration. History shows that this initiative will be fought tooth and nail before eventually being accepted as sensible public health policy.

There remain three questions to be answered.

How long will we have to wait?
How many young life trajectories will be compromised in the process?
Are there any school administrators with the courage to run this experiment?