• Z Z  z's & School Performance          nap2

    Adapted from The Parent Report Radio Show

    How's your child doing in school? An improvement in performance may be no further away than a good night's sleep. Stanley Coren, sleep specialist and author of "Sleep Thieves," says kids are robbing themselves of the ability to concentrate at school. "If your child is having problems in school, especially behavior or attention problems, then one of the first things you should ask yourself is if your child is getting enough sleep.

    One reason for the lack of sleep is that many school aged kids live by their parents' schedule, meaning they're getting to bed late, rising early and averaging about eight hours of sleep a night. But eight is not enough when it comes to kids and sleep. Most school aged kids need about ten hours or more of sleep per night.

    Sleep deprivation leads to a temporary loss in IQ levels, reasoning and memory, and even makes kids a little hyper says Coren. "A lot of attention deficit symptoms are really due to sleep deprivation. Often when kids are tired they act out as though they are self stimulating in order to stay awake."

    So remember, when it comes to your child, eight is definitely not enough.  Hitting the hay for about 10 hours will help to keep your child's school performance at it's peak!