Sleepy children behave badly and perform poorly
Children
who do not sleep properly are more likely to have behavioural problems
and perform poorly at school, University of South Australia researchers
have found.
Centre for Sleep Research adjunct research fellow Dr Sarah Blunden compared the sleep patterns of children in South Australian mainstream schools with specialist units for children with behavioural problems affecting academic performance.
The results from 80 children, showed those with borderline or clinically problematic behaviour were five times more likely to have significant sleep disturbance.
Sleep disturbance could include problems falling asleep, not getting enough sleep, or problems staying asleep.
Dr Blunden said the effect of snoring on children’s daytime activity has been acknowledged, but more importance should be placed on the negative effects of sleep disturbance even without snoring.
“Our results, together with other recent studies, continue to provide mounting evidence that sleep disruption, with or without respiratory compromise, may be detrimental to daytime functioning,” Dr Blunden said.
“Research shows that children who don’t sleep well do badly, exhibiting much worse behaviour and memory performance than snorers,” she said.
“Having an awareness of the sleep difficulties and paying attention to them could improve the quality of life and health of many children in special school programs.”
Researchers asked parents to complete the Sleep Disorders Scale for Children, the Pediatric Sleep Questionnaire and the Child Behaviour Checklist.
These surveys measured problems including falling and staying asleep, difficulty waking up, excessive sleepiness during the day, night sweating and total sleep time. Parents rated their children’s behaviour and school performance on the child behaviour checklist.
In making the findings, Dr Blunden worked with UniSA research fellow Dr Nicole Lamond and Dr Ron Chervin, Director of the Sleep Disorders Center, Department of Neurology, University of Michigan in America.
Dr Blunden recently spent seven weeks in America, working with Dr Chervin, after she won the Australasian Sleep Association’s Helen Bearpark Memorial Scholarship.
In addition to this research, Dr Blunden was keen to consolidate her own sleep education programs with information from programs already in place in America. These programs aim to educate parents, children and adolescents about healthy sleep patterns – and the importance of sleep in their overall wellbeing.
“Children who don’t have a regular bedtime, want parents to be with them when they go to sleep or don’t like sleeping in the dark may be helped with psychological guidelines such as changing the children’s or family’s behaviour, getting them to bed at the right time, not exciting them before they go to bed and not allowing them to watch violent movies,” Dr Blunden said.
Dr Blunden said in situations where there is household, financial or emotional stress, psychologists can help if family members are able to express their problems.