Researchers say 9am classes are bad for your health and should be banned

New research has confirmed what we’ve known all along – 9am lectures are too early and should be pushed back until at least 11am.

Analysts say 9ams interfere with our body clocks, meaning we are likelier to underperform and find it hard to focus in early-morning classes.

Researchers at the University of Nevada and the Open University looked at the academic performance of 200 students and found they worked best between 11am and 9.30pm.

Paul Kelley, of The Open University, said: “Students do better if they can target their study time to align with their personal rhythm and at the time of day when they know they are most effective.”

He added having to get up early could be linked to the rise in students’ mental health problems: “The temporal misalignment between the sleep timing shift and educational institutions’ usual hours causes significant sleep loss.

“Sleep loss, in turn, impairs academic performance and also elevates risks of obesity, depression, and drug abuse.”

They suggested that classes should begin between 11am and 1pm, the optimal times for students to be at their most productive.