Everything Exams

I myself have spent many a morning bleary eyed and struggling to get up and organised on a school day morning. In the classroom, as a teacher I have seen children visibly struggle to keep their eyes open on a sunny afternoon, and, as a child, I definitely drifted off on a couple of occasions in my least favourite classes. If you miss things in a lesson because you’re actually asleep, then that’s one thing, but I’ve always wondered if a lack of sleep affects children in other ways. I’m a bit of a research junkie and thought I’d share what I found out…

A number of important actions are triggered in our body when we sleep. These help us heal and grow, protect us from infection, and regulate our appetite.

During the deepest part of sleep, our blood pressure drops, and our breathing slows down; muscles relax and the blood supply to them increases. This is when we repair and renew our tissues, a time to heal from the inside. 

Growth hormones are released, which are critical for children as they mature. 

Ghrelin and leptin are released, which are hormones associated with our feelings of hunger and fullness. These are necessary for the regulation of our appetites and avoidance of unintentional weight gain. 

Cortisol is produced by the body in response to stress and has the effect of suppressing the immune system. At night-time, our bodies reduce levels of cortisol, allowing our immune systems to function. 

There is a wealth of publications out there describing the effects of sleep deprivation on adults. These indicate that a lack of sleep leads to reduced cognitive performance and lower levels of real-world functioning, such as capabilities when driving. In animal studies, sleep deprivation has been shown to reduce neural plasticity, and, when it occurs during the equivalent of early childhood in humans, it has been shown to have marked effects on the brain and learning.

In one paediatric study, children with Obstructive Sleep Apnea were found to have chemical abnormalities in certain regions of their brains, suggesting that they had neuronal injury. Another study was carried out in the US which specifically looked at the effects of short-term sleep deprivation on cognitive performance in a group of 10- to 14-year-olds. The control group was allowed 11 hours of sleep, and the test subjects, only 5 hours. The following day, the children took part in various tests which required memory, learning, creativity, and abstract thinking. The findings showed that even just one night of reduced sleep had a significant impact on their cognitive performance, specifically in areas of creativity and abstract thinking, with verbal fluency and originality showing a dramatic 25% reduction in performance. For me, this makes total sense as I definitely find it harder to think clearly after a bad night’s sleep.

Sufficient sleep appears to be pretty important, so how can parents make sure they are allowing their children to sleep for the right amount of time? If you search online for the ideal amount of time a child should spend asleep each day, advice varies. Having had my own children and worked as a nanny and governess for several families, I feel that I may have an answer for this. Firstly, children seem to thrive with a consistent sleep routine including say, a set time for their bath or shower, tooth care routine, story time and lights out. When they are attending school, they have no choice but to get up at a particular time in the morning in order to get to school. My observations are that if they need to be woken up on school days in the morning, so that they make it to school on time, then they’re not getting enough sleep. In this instance, the time they go to bed must be brought forward to an earlier time. If on the other hand, they wake up bright and breezy just before their alarm goes off, then they probably are getting enough sleep. 

It can be very tempting for us adults to want our children to fit around our lifestyle and calendars, keeping them up late a few times a week when we are late home from work, or perhaps having guests we want them to meet. After looking through quite a bit of research in this area, I guess my conclusion is that consistently giving them the opportunity to sleep as much as their bodies need is a wonderful gift parents can give children, and an investment in their future too.