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Let teens sleep, says Oxford don

Russell Foster, a professor of neuroscience at Brasenose College, has concluded that teenagers naturally need more sleep than adults and children.

Speaking up against the stereotype of teenagers being simply too lazy to get up on time, he told the BBC, “there’s a biological predisposition for going to bed late and getting up late. Clearly you can impose upon that even worse habits, but they are not lazy.”

Russell said his tests showed students performed better in the afternoon. He suggested opening schools an hour later to catch pupils at their natural peak, claiming this could reduce truanting and depression.

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