Media Release
February 22 2010
Sleep education program for Year 6 and 7 students
While
Year 6 and 7 students might enjoy watching television or MSN-ing their
friends way past their bed time,
UniSA researchers are hoping to make sleep a priority for South
Australian school children.
UniSA Paediatric Sleep Research Fellow Dr
Sarah Blunden is leading a new study to see if sleep education
delivered in schools can improve students’ sleep duration and subsequent
behavioural, learning and health outcomes.
Dr Blunden’s sleep education package will be rolled out to randomly
selected schools in the metropolitan area during term two this year, and
she is giving students a hands-on role in learning about the importance
of sleep.
“Researchers already know that poor sleep is a major contributor to a
whole range of problems in kids,” Dr Blunden said.
“Firstly there are behavioural deficits, where they’re more irritable
and more aggressive. Secondly, there are cognitive deficits, where the
child is not able to concentrate, they get fidgety, can’t take on board
information and can’t remember information, so their poor sleep
compromises their learning ability.
“On top of this, the immune system doesn’t do well and children get sick
more often, have more coughs and colds, and even have increased risks of
accidents.”
Dr Blunden believes many parents simply do not know just how much sleep
children require. Year 6 and 7 students need between nine and 11 hours
sleep per night.
“As a society we also tend to give up sleep to do other things we think
are more important. For a Year 6/7 student, those things might be
homework, watching TV, playing computer games, or talking to their
friends on MSN even when the bedroom light is out and they’re supposed
to be sleeping,” she said.
As part of the study, teachers will deliver the sleep education lessons
and students will prepare their own projects at the end of the term for
presentation to their parents and the school community.
Dr Blunden says two pilot studies – one in SA and one in NZ – showed
children were enthusiastic about sleep education.
“We want to find out if increased knowledge actually changes students’
behaviour in the longer term. If they know sleep is important will they
actually get themselves to bed earlier and do the bedtime routine stuff
we tell them is going to be helpful?” she said.
“Then we’ll look at if their sleep changes, is that going to change
their health and wellbeing? Are they going to be better concentrated,
better settled and all of those things?”
“We’ll also be measuring the children’s Body Mass Index (BMI) because we
know that in adults shorter sleep duration can be a predictor of
obesity. This is an area that needs more research in children.”
The study is being funded through an
Australian Research Council Linkage grant, with a major contribution
from SA Health as a partner
organisation and support from the
Department of Education and Children’s Services. It is the first of
its kind in Australia.
Contact for interview
-
Dr Sarah Blunden office (08) 8302 1972 mobile 0414 700 953
Media contact
- Kelly Stone office (08) 8302 0963 mobile 0417 861 832 email kelly.stone@unisa.edu.au