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.

To access the original news item visit: http://www.unisa.edu.au/news/2010/220210.asp