Did you know that a typical kindergartener needs eleven hours of sleep to be considered well rested? Or that a typical middle schooler needs nine or ten and a high schooler needs eight or nine?
Getting that amount of sleep every night may seem impossible given the busy schedules that children keep – with homework, sports and other extracurricular demands it can feel as if there’s barely enough time for dinner, let alone sleep! But numerous studies suggest that insufficient sleep can have a significant impact on your child’s ability to learn – so much so that even an hour less than the average nightly requirement can mean the difference between whether they struggle, get by, or excel. Here’s why the right amount of sleep is so important.
Your child’s body and brain needs adequate sleep in order for them to:
- Process and remember what they learn
- Organize their thoughts
- Predict outcomes
- Work efficiently
- Think in abstract terms
- Be creative
- React quickly
- Control impulses and regulate emotions
If you notice the following, your child may not be getting enough sleep:
- You child wakes with difficulty
- Your child is crabby, irritable, or prone to emotional outbursts (I know – those are hallmarks of tween and teen behavior, but they’re also symptoms of sleep deprivation!)
- Your child has trouble focusing in class
- Your child is hyper-active or impulsive
- Your child falls asleep in class, or on the ride home from school
- Your child is clumsy or accident prone
- Your child “crashes” on the weekends
If your child exhibits any of the above behaviors, take a close look at their sleep habits. If they’re getting less than the ideal amount of sleep for their age, do your best to help them get more. An extra hour or two of sleep can have a huge impact on how well your child copes with the rigors of a typical school day.
Check out my full article School Aged Children and Sleep for six ways to help your child feel rested and ready to learn.
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