The Doctor is In by Douglas Krohn, M.D., Pediatrician
Anyone who has ever had a teenager – or anyone who can remember being a teenager – knows that getting an adolescent out of a bed and onto a school bus is an arduous task. With high school, and even middle school, often starting before 8:00 a.m., adolescents usually need to be woken from insufficient sleep in order to prepare themselves for a long day of classes, various after-school commitments and homework. Many often start their day feeling cranky, being resentful of being woken up, poorly organized and in a half-stupor.
As the adults who oversee their lives and a community which decides when is the best time for adolescents to attend school, we are often frustrated by their late bedtimes and their early morning inertia – which we sometimes interpret as oppositional behavior, laziness or the consequence of not heeding our advice to go to bed earlier. But rarely do we consider that our adolescents are correct in the physical expression of their needs to sleep later. As surprising as it may seem, it just might be the grown-ups who are bucking the balance of nature by the way we organize our teenagers’ academic schedules.
The evidence is mounting that, at least in the arena of adolescent sleep and school attendance, the adults should be listening to what the kids have to say. A recent study in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine demonstrated that, in the two years following a county-wide delay in high school starting times in Fayette County, Kentucky, automobile crashes among teenage drivers fell by almost 17%. As a comparison, in the two years prior to Fayette County delaying the high school start time by over an hour, motor vehicle accidents involving teenage drivers had climbed nearly 8%. The results of the study, published at the end of 2008, were a startling reminder of how much sleep impacts the health and mortality of our children.
Other recent articles published in the academic medical literature also support the notion that we should be letting our adolescent children sleep later. A study in the Journal of School Health found that decreased sleep was associated with stress and obesity, as well as increased use of sleeping pills, cigarettes, and alcohol near bedtime. Another study in the journal Behavior and Sleep Medicine found that changing middle school start times from 7:15 a.m. to 8:37 a.m. yielded nearly an hour more sleep per night, as well as better school attendance. And a third article in the journal Pediatrics demonstrated that teenagers sleep nearly two hours more per night in the summer than they do during the school year, despite going to bed at about the same time during those two very different times of year. Clearly, our teenagers need to sleep later than we allow them.
All of this comes on the heels of the relatively recent “discovery” that the late bedtimes that adolescents prefer are not the result of exuberant socializing or contrary behavior; rather there is a natural change in the circadian rhythm that informs their brains to turn off. As a result, teenagers do not get sleepy until 10:30 p.m. or later because that’s when their brains get sleepy and they are not bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 7:00 a.m. because their brains are not either. These studies also follow the recent recognition of the connection between insufficient sleep and the risk of obesity and overweight – a growing and threatening epidemic among our children and adolescents.
So what do we do about it? Well, the common sense approach would follow the example set by the Minneapolis Public School District nearly a decade ago: start school later. In Minneapolis, high school starting times were changed from 7:15 a.m. to 8:40 a.m., and we now have nearly ten years of data from a very large and ethnically diverse sample. In the Minneapolis experience, student sleep increased by an hour per night, the number of sick days taken by students decreased, and attendance rose. Minneapolis high school students now report less daytime somnolence, there has been a slight increase in grades and academic performance, and students report fewer symptoms of depression. An additional and unexpected finding after the Minneapolis school-start delay was a decrease in the number of students who changed to a private school or a different school district: more students and their parents, it seemed, became more satisfied with their public school experience as soon as their children began to sleep sufficiently. Incidentally, transportation costs of the Minneapolis Public School District did not change.
So the precedent is there, and so is the evidence – Northern Westchester now has to decide whether it is up to the task of heeding change. For those who argue that a delay in middle school and high school start times would make for a possibly unmanageable bus schedule in the morning, I would like to point out that elementary school-age children are up and at ‘em by 6:00 a.m. Let’s flip the bus schedules and ship those little ones off an hour earlier!
Bobcats win the first round of post season play against Harrison.
2/12/10 Bobcats defeat the Huskies 58 - 39
2/1/10 Bobcats defeat Ardsley 47 - 43
1/12/10 Byram Hills verse Horace Greeley Girls Varsity Basketball. Although Byram Hills was the first to score, Greeley maintained the lead throughout the game until 6:28 remaining on the time clock in the fourth quarter.
At the end of the first half the score was 23 - 20 with Greeley in the lead.
Bobcats kept the game close and was able to blow the game out in the last three minutes winning 53 - 44.
Jenna was top Byram scorer with 20 points.
1/5/10 Byram Hills' girls varsity basketball team scored a 44 - 32 victory over Rye. The girls played hard and challenged every possession. The Bobcats are in first place in their league standing with seven wins and one loss.
Many players of this varsity team have been successfully competing together since third grade.
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12/22/09
The Cats played at Wildcat Country of Westlake High. The Bobcats beat the Wildcats 61 - 40. Byram Hills high scorers: Jenna H., 21 points and Bea W., 17 points. Go Bobcats!
12/12/09 Byram's Winter Basketball Tournament opening game was delayed due to weather related school closing. The first game played was Byram Hills against Pelham.
The last five seconds of the game, Bobcats tied with a free throw and pulled ahead to win 46 - 45.
The second round of the boy's basketball tournament will be played January 30th.
Six high schools are participated in a Byram Hill's Winter Basketball Classic: Fox Lane, Pelham, Horace Greeley, Valhalla, Port Chester and Byram Hills.
Bobcat girls won their first round and beat Fox Lane 48 - 36. Beatriz scored 25 points with 17 rebounds. Lauren had 5 steals and 6 assists.
Byram girls play the second round on Saturday, December 10th against Horace Greely at 6pm.
Bobcat Dancers perform during halftime.
Byram Hills' Cheerleaders cheer on the Bobcats.
Byram Hills Cross Country Track, 1.5 miles
Byram Hills Cross Country Track 5,000 Meters
Byram Hills Dance Team
February 3, 2010
High School Team to Dance for Dollars
In its third annual Dancing for Dollars … Dancing for Dreams the Byram Hills High School Dance team is hosting a dance expo featuring about 13 high school and college dance teams to raise funds for the Cottage School in Pleasantville, a residential facility for neglected and abused children.
Scheduled for Friday, February 26, 7 – 9 p.m. in the Byram Hills High School gymnasium, the event will include dancers from Byram Hills, Irvington, Fox Lane, Mahopac, and Pleasantville high schools and the Manhattan College Jaspers.
The Dancing for Dollars … Dancing for Dreams dance expo has become the cornerstone of the Byram Hills High School Dance Team, whose members believe that it is important to give to other athletes who are not as fortunate as they in having a full athletic program and the sportsmanship and school spirit that goes with it. Last year the expo raised some $6,000 for the Mt. Vernon High School, which had lost funding for its entire athletic program due to budget cuts.
ALL ARE WELCOME: $5 students, $10 adults, payable at the door.
Byram Hills Lady Bobcats Fall To Albertus Magnus
By Michele and Daniel Zenkel February 17, 2010
Section I Quarterfinals The Lady Bobcats season came to an end on with a 49-36 sectional quarterfinal loss to defending Section I Champion and State Finalist Albertus Magnus. The Magnus Lady Falcons advanced to the County Center for the 4th year in a row. The young Lady Bobcats squad, which featured only two seniors and nine sophomores, finished with an impressive 16-4 record. Wednesday’s game started out auspiciously for the Bobcats, who took a quick, 5-0 lead on a 3 pointer by Christina Sardo and a Lauren Riggs layup. Unfortunately this was to be the Bobcat’s last lead. The Lady Falcons unleashed a furious press and ran off 16 straight points and ended the quarter ahead by 16-7. The Bobcats steadied in the second quarter and closed to within 6 midway through. But Magnus’ Katelyn Spicer, who led the Falcon’s with 21, hit back-to-back threes to extend the lead back up to 12. Sardo answered with a three of her own, and Hogan added two quick layups. At halftime, the Bobcats trailed 30-21. Senior captain Victoria Cipillone opened the second half with a15 footer, and Riggs added two free throws to bring the Bobcats within five, but that was the closest they got. They struggled with their shooting through the rest of the period and trailed by 38-27 after 3. The Lady Falcons opened the fourth quarter with a 5-0 run, and, just like that, the Bobcats were down 16. The Falcons stretched their lead to 20 with less than 4 minutes remaining, and the game was effectively over. Senior captains Jenna Hogan and Victoria Cipillone, gave their all in this final basketball game of their high school careers. Hogan led the Bobcats with 16 points and Cipillone contributed 4. Sardo added 6, Riggs 5 and Dorina Cipillone 3. Sophomore captain Beatriz Williams added a bucket and hauled down 11 rebounds. Vicky Colon, Alex Giuliani, Marla Milone and Nikki Zenkel saw action as well. Players from both teams displayed tremendous spirit and sportsmanship, and put on a great show for the large home crowd.
Bobcat's ski team is ready to be loaded on the bus to drive up to practice at Thunder Ridge Ski Resort in Patterson, NY
Bobcats’ Sports Schedule & Scores – Last Week’s Results and Upcoming Games
Sectional playoffs are upcoming for Hockey. The season has ended for basketball and the other sports. BHHS girls' basketball team had a marvelous 16-4 season.
BASKETBALL, Girls – Varsity [16-4 record] Sectionals: 02/17, Wed. Albertus Magnus topped BHHS 49-36 in quarter-finals Season finished.
BASKETBALL, Boys – Varsity [9-11 record] Season finished.
HOCKEY, Boys – Varsity [10-9-1 record] Sectionals, First Round: 02/22, Mon. #9 seed BHHS vs. #8 Fox Lane @ Brewster Arena, 6:15 PM
SKIING, Co-ed – Varsity [Boys 3-6 and Girls 2-7] Season finished.
02/23 & 24, Tue. & Wed. States at Bristol Mountain [no BHHS qualifiers]
Updated February 13, 2010 Bobcat boys had an amazing second half of the basketball season. They beat John Jay, Fox Lane, Port Chester, Rye and Harrison twice. They've won six of last eight games. And now have a 9 - 10 record. Not bad for a very young team. Freshman Jeff Lynch, above, goes up for a layup during the sectional opener, scoring 28 points as Bobcats score a victory over Harrison 58 - 46. Lynch has averaged approximately 19 points per game in these last eight games. Bobcats lost in the second round of the sectionals 66 -47 playing #1 Seed Spring Valley at the "Tigers' Den".
Boys' Varsity Basketball
January 4, 2010 After 7 games, freshman guard, Jeff Lynch, is averaging 12.3 points per game and 6 rebounds per game. This past week he was named to the All-Tournament Team at the Albertus Magnus Tournament; where he scored 20 points verse Blessed Sacrament and 11 points vs Albertus Magnus.
