Sleep Deprivation Lowers School Achievement In Children

New submitter josedu writes:"Sleep deprivation is a great, hidden problem that afflicts a great percentage of children in affluent countries. About 73% of 9- and 10-year-old children in the U.S. are sleep deprived, as are 80% of 13- and 14-year-olds. The new study thinks this is linked to the increased access to devices such as mobile phones and laptops late at night. One of the researchers put it very simply: 'Our data show that across countries internationally, on average, children who have more sleep achieve higher in maths, science and reading.' This disruption is also causing schools to dumb-down their instruction to accomodate the reduced capacity of these kids. Thus, even the kids who are getting enough sleep will suffer. The long-term impact of sleep deprivation on nationwide education levels is enormous."

Re:My observations with my neighbors and friends w

[Nyder]

...kids, is that many parents don't put their kids to sleep the same way they did when I was a child (70's/80's.)

My kids go to sleep between 7:30PM and 8:30PM depending upon their ages (ranging from 5-9.)

At 9PM at night during the week I'll hear quite a lot of our neighbors' kids still playing outside, much less getting ready for bed.

School starts VERY early here as well (kids have to be at school by 7:30AM.)

Now, some of these kids who are staying up later are doing quite well in school, so who knows. It's just different from when I was a kid and it seemed to be a pervasive adult conspiracy to put all children to bed early...

My parents made me go to bed at 7:30 till I was in middle school. It was evil. I didn't need that much sleep, and the sun was still shining most the time. It would take me hours to fall asleep. If that help my grades, I don't know. I was the kid who always had the "can't pay attention" in class. But later, in middle school and beyond, when I wasn't going to bed at 7:30 (it was then more 9-10ish) I got B+ grades without trying.

Re:Let me be the first to say...

[Anonymous Coward]

Also this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_sleep_phase_disorder [wikipedia.org]

I tried my best to go to bed earlier. I just ended up tossing and turning in bed until midnight for weeks on end. Only thing that helped me is melatonin.

Science

[Murdoch5]

Actually I read once that teenagers are better "profiled" to perform during the mid day and hence they should really be sleeping much later at night and into the early morning, class for teenagers should be starting at noon not 9am. Well I'm not going to argue a good night sleep is important, it is very important, we need to be setting class times that revolve more around the natural clock of the body and not what works best for the adults. If science can show that 12 - 7pm works better for teenagers then I think we should move class times to work in that area. It would also be worth figuring out when the best natural class time is children, I have a problem when we base sleep patterns for the teachers rather then the students.

This link from the BBC talks about it: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7932950.stm [bbc.co.uk]

So I think the solution, at least for teenagers is to move the class time back so they can best perform when biologically they're ready to.

Re:Let me be the first to say...

[suutar]

Not to mention the natural wake/sleep cycle changes as you age. Adolescence tends to shift the natural wake-up time back by a couple of hours. Yes, teenagers wanting to sleep in later than preadolescents (and stay up later) seems to have a biological basis. http://kidshealth.org/teen/your_body/take_care/how_much_sleep.html [kidshealth.org]

Re:duh research

[ShanghaiBill]

while it might be "duh", government agencies, et al, won't respond to anecdotal stories about the effects of sleep deprivation. They need data to back it.

There is plenty of data. This not even close to the first study that has reached the same conclusion. More sleep means more learning. Kids' sleep patterns are determined by daylight, so "going to bed early" doesn't work. What does work is shifting the school hours later in the day. The kids go to bed at the same time, but sleep extra in the morning. Schools that have done this not only have better test scores, but also have fewer pregnancies, less drug use, and fewer accidents. Kids are most likely to smoke pot and screw right after school, while their parents are still at work and the house is empty. When the school day is shifted later in the day, they don't have as much time for that. Citation (sorry about the pdf): Sleep, Safety, Drugs, Teen Pregnancy and other reasons to change school times [nksd.net]

Re:duh research

[ShanghaiBill]

Citation (sorry about the pdf)

Here is the same citation, but html: Early Morning Classes, Sleepy Students, and Risky Behavior [center4research.org].

More citations are listed at the bottom of the article.

Quick summary: Starting and ending the school day early is really dumb.