sleep 1/2

SLEEP
by Dr Sarah Blunden
Sleep psychologist

Download this File

Healthy children learn better. One aspect of health that is important for the development of children is sleep. For most of the past century, the focus of healthy living was on diet, then on exercise - now it is on sleep.
About sleep - some facts
Our need for sleep changes from about 20 hours a day as an infant to 8-10 hours for adults. All sleep is divided into cycles called ‘non-rapid eye movement’ (NREM) sleep and ‘rapid eye movement’ (REM) sleep. Each cycle of NREM and REM sleep lasts between 90-110 minutes. Sleep is critical for development and is believed to serve many purposes including rest, growth, tissue repair, and information processing. For education professionals, this last point is of the greatest significance.

The impact of sleep on learning and behaviour
• Sleep, or lack of it, significantly affects memory, which is the basis for learning. By the same token, sleep deprivation or inadequate sleep significantly impairs learning. For example, if a new or difficult task is to be learned on Monday, there must be adequate sleep on Sunday night to optimise concentration and attentional capacity but there must also be adequate sleep on Monday, Tuesday and even Wednesday to maintain learning potential and retention of that task. It is understandable that insufficient sleep the night before will decrease concentration but why is it that adequate sleep after a new task has been learned increases learning capacity and retention?

• The answer to this question is linked to the fact that different stages of sleep have been implicated in memory and information consolidation. It is known that REM and NREM sleep stages are important so the brain can undertake cognitive processes such as information consolidation and storage of different types of memory. These cognitive processes include divergent thinking (creative, problem solving), convergent thinking (rote learning), procedural memory (how to do things and some concept formation – mathematics) and semantic memory (memory of events and dates). All these cognitive functions are integral to academic success. Inadequate amounts of REM or NREM sleep can effect the consolidation of these cognitive functions. For example, uninterrupted sections of NREM sleep are important for subsequent rote learning and motor skills acquisition (procedural memory). Similarly uninterrupted sections of REM sleep are needed for other types of memory as it is during REM sleep that we organise, store and consolidate memories, particularly more difficult memories such as mathematical concepts and language. REM periods increase in duration and frequency over the night. Therefore, the last stages of REM sleep in the early morning before waking up are especially vital because during this time, the brain is very busy in consolidating memories and information from yesterday and preparing for tomorrow. Shortened or interrupted REM and NREM sleep can therefore interfere with different memory and learning functions. Memory deficits may well result, making learning difficult, with a possible negative effect on academic potential

• Memory is not the only thing effected by sleep disruption. Recent evidence suggests that certain sleep problems may cause permanent damage to areas of the brain (frontal lobes) which control complex learning and result in permanent but subtle performance decrements. With impaired learning and performance, knowledge is difficult to accrue and may explain why children with poor sleep (particularly those who have a chronic snoring problem) display lower IQ than children with sufficient sleep.
• Finally, sleep loss influences the regulation and control of emotions. Due to the inability to control emotions, children with sleep problems display problematic behaviours similar to those seen in children diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, not just during the sleep deprivation, but also subsequent to that. Uncontrolled emotions hinder learning

Back to Main Page 1 2 Next>