Morning brain: Real-world neural evidence that high school class times matter

Researchers, parents, and educators consistently observe a stark mismatch between biologically preferred and socially imposed sleep-wake hours in adolescents, fueling debate about high school start times. We contribute neural evidence to this debate with electroencephalogram (EEG) data collected from high school students during their regular morning, mid-morning and afternoon classes. Students’ baseline alpha brain activity decreased as the day progressed, consistent with adolescents being least attentive early in the morning. While students showed consistently worse performance and higher alpha power in the early morning classes, quiz scores and alpha levels in the afternoon varied by individual focus and class activity. Together, our findings demonstrate that class time is reflected in adolescents’ brain responsiveness in a real-world setting, and corroborate educational research suggesting that mid-morning may be the best time to learn.