Read How Inadequate Sleep May Affect Your Child's Academic Performance

 Did you know that sleep can affect your child's academic performance?

Well a  study suggests that children who have trouble sleeping, tend to do worse in school than their peers who get a good night's sleep.

Researchers in Brazil studied children between age 7 to 10 who attended Sao Paulo public schools. They found that children with 'symptoms of sleep disorders or sleep breathing disorders earned lower grades than those without problems sleeping.'

About 13 percent of the children with difficulty sleeping had failing grades in Portuguese language, compared to 9 percent of those without sleep problems. Also, 25 percent of children with disrupted sleep had failing math grades, versus 8 percent of children without trouble sleeping.

This study simply highlights how important it is for children to get enough sleep. From the time they are babies, children need much more sleep than adults, because their bodies need to become accustomed to a regular schedule, and because their brain function is still developing, as are their bodies in general. Failing to provide children with an adequate amount of sleep can result in their difficulty concentrating, slowing metabolism and reduced immunity to diseases.

While there is no magical number of hours of sleep that all children in a particular age group need, there are general guidelines that parents can adher to.

Babies, on average, need about 14 to 16 hours of sleep each day. This could be in the form of naps that range from 1 to 4 hours, depending on their size. As a baby approaches a year old the hours of rest required per night will drop to about 12 to 14 hours. Children from 2-12 years old, may require 9-13 hours on average.

How many hours of sleep does your child get each day? Do you think this is enough?

 

 

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