Sleepy kids are missing out on school

A new poll has revealed that one in 10 parents have kept their children home from school due to over tiredness.

Some 63 per cent of parents across Scotland have also admitted that their child needs more sleep than they get, with 7 per cent of Scottish children even reportedly falling asleep in class, according to a new poll.

The sleep study commissioned by leading online parenting resource Families Online surveyed Scottish parents with schoolaged children up to 12 years of age, looking at the main issues associated with sleep deprivation in younger children.

More than half of the parents surveyed said that on average their child appears tired a few times a week, while a further 17 per cent said their child suffers with tiredness every day after school.

Children suffer from sleep deprivation for several reasons and Scottish parents revealed the top barriers that are stopping their little ones from drifting off at night ahead of the summer holidays.

Waking up too early and lighter and warmer evenings stopping kids from getting to sleep were the most common complaints.

Playing outside school activities, the impact of long school days and late nights at the weekend were also to blame.

Other issues included bad dreams and broken sleep, playing on devices or watching TV before bedtime and sharing a bedroom with siblings and being kept awake.

Now that the summer holidays are in full swing, bedtime routines for children become notoriously less rigid and experts believe this could have a damaging knock-on effect in sleeping patterns that will be hard for children to catch up on.