Good news for teens: The CDC says they should start school later.

It's quite the irony.

When kids are babies and toddlers and have absolutely nowhere to be, they won't sleep in late to save their (or, more accurately, their parents') lives. By the age that they'd rather walk on glass than get up at 6 a.m., they have to get up early to go to school.

Life can be so unfair.

Well, it turns out that waking up a sleeping teenager isn't just miserable for parents — it's not great for kids either.

According to the research, kids go to school too early. At least, too early for their brains.

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report about teens, sleep, and the ideal time to start school. It found that 4 out of 5 junior high and high school students are starting school too early. Too early = any time before 8:30 a.m. (More on the reason for that time in a minute.)

This wasn't a small school sampling, either. It included 40,000 public junior and high schools.

Now, science agrees with teens who act like you're asking for their kidneys when you tell them get up in the mornings: They shouldn't have to get up for school.

Specifically, they shouldn't have to get up for school so early.

Here's the deal. The CDC says that when teens start school at 8:30 a.m. or later, they are able to get the recommended amount of sleep on school nights, which is eight and a half to nine and a half hours.

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Not getting the recommended hours of sleep may not result in them falling asleep in class — or maybe it will...

Nobody wants to be that kid.

But the CDC does note that poor academic performance is associated with too little sleep.

Additionally, there are long-term concerns. The risk of smoking, drinking, using drugs, and being overweight are associated with teens not getting enough ZZZZs.

"'Getting enough sleep is important for students' health, safety, and academic performance,' said Anne Wheaton, Ph.D., lead author and epidemiologist in CDC's Division of Population Health. 'Early school start times, however, are preventing many adolescents from getting the sleep they need.'"

Professionals who know their stuff feel pretty strongly about the importance of teens not starting school so early. Last year, the American Academy of Pediatrics specifically recommended middle and high schoolers not start before 8:30 a.m.

Good news: Our hands aren't totally tied here.

Unlike with many government-related issues, parents can encourage change for public school start times, and we could actually see it happen. School hours aren't set by the state or federal governments. They're set by the school districts. We have a much better opportunity to raise our voices for change on a local level.

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To be fair, earlier start times for teens are sometimes in place for a very practical reason.

In my kids' district , the elementary students (two of which I happen to parent) start at 9 a.m. and the junior high and high schoolers start before 8 a.m. These staggered start times are to accommodate school bussing needs — the whole district shares buses, so the junior high and high schools use them earlier, and the elementary schools use them later. And when I say earlier, I mean waaayyy earlier. My friend's son began junior high this year. He has to be at his bus stop at 6:50 a.m.

Why not let the teens sleep in a little longer?

Perhaps this new science could add to a conversation in districts that stagger about switching the two groups. If teenagers think and work better with later start times, that's some evidence on the side of having younger children — who presumably go to bed much earlier — start earlier. And while there is likely a case to be made for either, I know from experience that for working parents of elementary schoolers, a 9 a.m. start time can be difficult unless they pay for before-school care.

That's one idea. Are there more? And what do you think?

Should we listen to science (and our teens) and encourage districts to start junior high and high schoolers' days later? Start the conversation with fellow parents and administrators and see what they think.

And teens, if you're reading this scientific excuse to sleep in on Monday morning, don't tell your mom you got it from me.

Thumbnail image via Thinkstock.