Getting more sleep helps children's achievement (teens, games, parents, smart)

[lhpartridge]

Want To Get Faster, Smarter? Sleep 10 Hours : NPR

[golfgal]

I just love when they have "studies" that research the obvious. Based on my experience, there are a lot of kids with ADD that really just need more sleep. The lack of sleep can mimic symptoms of ADD and I think that is a BIG reason why that diagnosis is so common these days.

[NoExcuses]

^^ I agree. It doesn't take a "study" to tell me my family needs more sleep.

My teen hates getting up in the morning and complains. I tell her she doesn't have control over the end, but she does over the beginning and if she's too tired at the end, go to bed earlier at the beginning.

[Eresh]

^^ I also agree. Too many people blow off the importance of their child's sleep and then later wonder why their he/she is acting out and having a hard time focusing.

I also see too many adults not getting enough sleep. Sleep is the first thing many people cut back on when they realize they can't cram 26 hours into a 24 hour day. It's a horrible cycle; not enough sleep leads to inefficiency and less productiveness, which in turn lead to less time to sleep.

[NJGOAT]

Sleep is paramount. My kids are great when everyone gets their sleep/naps in on schedule. When they don't, they start to unravel pretty quickly and them being overtired makes it that much harder to get them to sleep regularly the next night.

[NCyank]

I think I posted in another thread....my teens get 9-10 hours of sleep regularly. They can handle 2-3 days with less but then the effects are very noticeable. Their attitudes devolve into what might be considered 'normal' for other teens but is not normal for my kids. They can tell that they have a harder time focusing in school.

It's odd to me that many parents don't consider the amount of sleep their kids get as having an impact on their behavior, attitude and ability to perform at school....it's just common sense. An hour or so after they drag the kid out of bed the kid doesn't look sleepy anymore but that doesn't mean they got enough sleep. The first clue is if you have to drag them out of bed every morning...they didn't get enough sleep.


On a side note...my son read somewhere that you can sleep for just two hours a day if you take naps at 4 hour intervals. Somehow he thinks that he will be able to stay up all night playing video games....or maybe I can get him to do laundry and mopping. I told him he had to wait for summer to try it but even if it works, by the time he gets fully adapted to the program it will be time to think about going back to school and he would have to retrain himself to sleep at night. They don't allow power naps in high school, lol.