The monthold policy by Gyeonggi Province to shift the time students go to school from 8:30 to 9 a.m. could contribute to the mental well-being of students, experts said.

Psychiatrists say that allowing students to sleep more during weekdays could combat sleep deprivation, which can lead to psychological issues.

“Our research shows that if there is a large disparity between how much a student sleeps during weekdays and on weekends, it is more likely for him or her to become more impulsive. The resulting stress and impulses can lead to extreme actions like suicide,” said professor Kang Seung-gul from the department of mental health at Gachon University’s Gil Medical Center.

In a joint study with researchers from Seoul National University, Kang studied 4,145 students in Incheon to determine the correlation between sleep and suicide. He found that if the sleep disparity increased by one hour, a student was 1.13 times more likely to kill themselves.

“Our speculation was that not only does sleep deprivation fuel aggression, it also hinders the brain functions by impairing its ability to recover from damage. This causes students to act on impulse,” he said.

A recent study by the National Youth Policy Institute showed that 69.5 percent of high school students felt that they were sleep-deprived.

Experts say that lack of sleep can also impede students’ studying.

“When you get a lot of sleep, the memory of what you’ve done right before going to bed remains in your memory for a relatively long period. Over the long term, getting sufficient sleep can help your academic performance,” according to professor Jeong Seok-hoon from the University of Ulsan Asan Medical Center.

Professor Lee Yu-jin, currently running a sleep disorder clinic at SNU Hospital, said that the new policy was recommendable. While it does not solve all the problems, waking up later can improve students’ cognitive abilities as well as their emotional recovery, she said in a recent interview with a local radio station.

But going to school late does not merely solve sleep-deprivation. According to Kang, it is ideal for teens and 20-somethings to go to bed late and wake up late.

“Biologically, younger people should go to bed about 30 minutes or an hour later than their older counterparts,” he said. For example, if an ideal sleep cycle for an adult was from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., students should go to bed around midnight and wake up at 8 a.m.

Inspired by an online petition by a handful of middle school students in August, the policy is now being followed by 90.1 percent of elementary, middle and high schools in the region, according to the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education. Education offices in other areas, including North Jeolla Province, Jeju Island and Gwangju, have followed suit, as they either already implemented or planned to introduce the policy.

With experts praising the merits of the new policy, there is still an ongoing debate. Some of the critics point out that in case of high schools, students are forced to say in school until late hours, making them more vulnerable to crime.

Others also lambasted the GPOE for unilaterally pushing forward with the policy without first conferring with school officials, saying it infringed upon the autonomy of each school.

By Yoon Min-sik (minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)