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Issues of interest for teachers • Pre-school and junior school children are particularly busy learning and refining motor skills. Tthese can be significantly impaired by shortened sleep duration, particularly NREM sleep. • Young children who are having insufficient sleep may not be tired in the day but instead overactive and disruptive in an effort to keep themselves awake. • Teenagers need more deep sleep (NREM) sleep than at any other stage in their lives. They therefore need to sleep longer. However during puberty, adolescents’ internal body clocks change to a later sleep cycle (delayed sleep phase cycle), so they want to go to sleep later but still having to comply with early start times for school. Result? Most adolescents are sleep deprived. This sleep deprivation has been implicated in poor school performance in adolescents, during the years when they need it most. It has also been recognised that sleep deprivation negatively effects social skills and sporting performance at a time when they are under strong pressure to succeed at both.

‘Good’ sleepers perform better on tests in the morning as they have had restorative sleep compared to ‘poor’ sleepers who perform better in the evening. Furthermore, a child suffering sleep loss (which effects divergent or creative thinking) will be more creative in the morning than in the afternoon. • Some topics, like mathematics and second languages have a high cognitive component and require adequate sleep for optimal learning potential. Timing of presentation of this material with respect to expected subsequent sleep could result in increased learning efficiency. For example, offering maths on Fridays when it is likely that many children will stay up late on the weekend beyond normal bedtimes, is problematic. • If a child is falling asleep in class, is withdrawn, socially inactive or on the contrary, hyperactive, disruptive and aggressive, these may be indicative of a sleep problem. If this is coupled with learning difficulties it may be even more suggestive. Presented separately or together, these symptoms may be an indication of a sleep disorder

Addressing the problem • A teacher may be able to identify symptoms described above that may not be evident to a parent and may therefore be in an ideal position to discuss these issues with parents • Increasing awareness of the importance of sleep can be increased by initiating in your school a ‘SLEEP SMART PROGRAM” which includes educational packages and quiz/problem solving questions for students that may be incorporated into health education in schools. References Blissitt, P.A. (2001). Sleep, memory and learning. Journal of Neuroscience Nursing, 33 (4). Blunden, S., Lushington, K., Kennedy, D. (2001). Cognitive and behavioural performance in children with sleep related obstructive breathing disorders. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 5 (6): 447-461. Gozal, D. (1998). Sleep disordered breathing in school aged children: Impact on school performance. Pedaitrics 102 (3): 616-620. Gozal, D., Gozal, E. (2001). Physiological and genomic consequences of intermittent hypoxia. Invited Review: Respiratory plasticity following intermittent hypoxia: Developmental interactions. Journal of Applied Physiology, 90: 1995-1999.

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