This only furthers the problems associated with insufficient sleep because of the body's natural physiological response to excessive sugar intake and leads to a constant repetitive cycle of sugar highs and corresponding crashes shortly afterwards. Furthermore, the excessive caffeine consumption throughout the school day only makes it that much harder for students to wind down and go to sleep as early as they would need to receive adequate sleep. Finally, in that regard, the regular substitution of healthy breakfasts for non-nutritious fast food and vending machine substitutes contributes substantially to the epidemic of overweight and obese American teenagers.

According to Houston, delaying the start time of American high schools would help resolve most of these problems.

Houston's observations are very consistent with what one observes...

Part of the blame is that teachers assign too much homework and schedule assignments and tests without coordinating with other teachers to make sure that students have no choice but to either stay up late into the night to do their schoolwork or fail to meet academic deadlines. Houston's observations are absolutely correct and accurately reflect the situations faced by American high school students. Therefore, delaying the opening of school by an hour or more would probably be tremendously beneficial to most American students.