Studies show that increasing your child’s sleep by as little as half an hour can dramatically improve school performance. Primary school children – need about nine to 10 hours.Sleep requirements differ from one person to the next depending on age, physical activity levels, general health and other individual factors. Later start times at school result in reduced daytime sleepiness, higher grades and reduced negative feelings.Sleep problems in teenagers are associated with increased risk of disorders such as depression and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).Chronically sleep-deprived teenagers are more likely to have problems with impulse control, which leads to risk-taking behaviours.Sleep loss causes a range of schooling problems, including naughtiness and poor concentration.Selected statistics from research studies into sleep loss and its effects on children and teenagers include: Microsleep – brief periods of involuntary sleeping that range from a few seconds to a few minutes in duration.Errors of commission – making a mistake by doing something, but choosing the wrong option.Errors of omission – making a mistake by forgetting to do something.Increased likelihood of moodiness and bad temper.Increased likelihood of mentally ‘stalling’ or fixating on one thought.Reduced awareness of the environment and situation.This two-hour sleep loss can have a major impact including: Let’s say that a person who needs eight hours of sleep per night only gets six. Babies, older babies and toddlers – parents almost always experience sleep deprivation because their young children wake frequently in the night for feeding or comfort.Another common problem is lying in bed and worrying, rather than relaxing. Poor sleep hygiene– some people’s habits are disruptive for example, drinking coffee or smoking cigarettes close to bedtime stimulates the nervous system and makes sleep less likely.The sleeping environment – sleep may be disrupted for a range of environmental reasons for example, because the bedroom is too hot or cold or because of noisy neighbours or a snoring bed partner.Medications – some drugs used to treat disorders such as epilepsy or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) can cause insomnia.Sleep disorder – problems such as sleep apnoea, snoring and periodic limb movement disorder can disturb the person’s sleep many times during the night.Frequent travellers (for example, airline crew) also tend to have erratic sleeping patterns.
Work – people who do shift work disrupt their sleep-wake cycles on a regular basis.Illness – illnesses such as colds and tonsillitis can cause snoring, gagging and frequent waking, and have a direct effect on sleep by fragmenting it.Instead of regularly going to bed at a reasonable hour, they prefer to stay up late to socialise, watch television or read a good book. Personal choice – some people don’t realise that the body needs adequate sleep.Reluctance to get out of bed in the morning.Ĭommon causes of sleep deprivation include:.Grogginess when they wake up in the morning.Over-activity and hyperactive behaviour.The tendency to emotionally ‘explode’ at the slightest provocation.Sleepy children tend to ‘speed up’ rather than slow down. Sleep deprivation affects children in different ways to adults. Symptoms of sleep deprivation in children Poor concentration and mood changes (more irritable).Sleepy grogginess experienced all day long (sleep inertia).The tendency to doze off when not active for a while for example, when watching television.Symptoms of sleep deprivation in adults include: Lack of sleep can also affect a child’s school performance and could be linked to increased risk of emotional problems such as depression. This is why sleep deprivation contributes to road accidents and work injuries. Staying awake for 24 hours leads to a reduced hand-to-eye coordination that is similar to having a blood alcohol content of 0.1. Insufficient sleep, inadequate quality of sleep or disruptions to the sleep-wake cycle (such as those that occur with shift work or travelling to a different time zone) have consequences for how we function in the daytime, causing sleepiness and fatigue.Ī sleepy fatigued person is accident prone, judgement impaired and more likely to make mistakes and bad decisions. Sleep is as important to the human body as food and water, but many of us don’t get enough sleep. Sleep deprivation is a general term to describe a state caused by inadequate quantity or quality of sleep, including voluntary or involuntary sleeplessness and circadian rhythm sleep disorders.
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