Children, who do not get adequate amount of sleep, might have trouble with their schoolwork. US Researchers from the Forest Institute of Professional Psychology in Springfield, Missouri, studied 74 six to twelve year old children and found that they had more trouble with their schoolwork and attention problems during the week, when they stayed up late each night. Though this may not come as a surprise to some parents and teachers, the findings offer direct evidence that sleep loss can hurt school performance in healthy, well-functioning children. Sleep is very important, and parents need to take it seriously and put their children to bed at a reasonable hour. The study included healthy school-going children, without any sleep or academic problems. During one week, they followed their normal sleep routine, with younger children getting about 10 hours each night and older children getting 8 to 9 hours of sleep every night. During another week, the children stayed up later than usual and got only 6.5 to 8 hours of sleep, depending on their age. In the third week, all children followed an optimised sleep schedule and got no fewer than 10 hours of sleep per night. The children's teachers, who did not know the children's sleep schedule, rated their academic performance and behaviour for each week. Overall, it was found that the children had more difficulty with their schoolwork and were less attentive in class during their sleep-deprived week. However, they did not become hyperactive in class. The findings suggest that when children have difficulties at school, including attention problems, an evaluation of their sleep habits may be needed. Though it's possible that children can catch up on their sleep over the weekends, but this is not a good habit, since adequate sleep on weekdays is necessary for good academic performance. It's hard to say how much sleep a child may need. But the normal sleep habits of the children in this study, at least 8 to 9 hours a night seemed to serve them well.
Sleep,
November 2005