Well-rested youth do better in school

Healthy sleep improves memory and attention, so kids are better able to learn. Well-rested children also have improved executive functioning, so they are better able to plan and can perform difficult tasks with greater accuracy and speed. Well-rested children are also less irritable and impulsive, so they are better able to self-regulate and have improved moods. They are also more physically active, so they are in better overall health.

Yet sleep problems in kids are common, often minimized, ignored or (when acknowledged) inadequately addressed. We need to change that.

So what’s disturbing the sleep of so many Canadian kids? In a special issue of Sleep Medicine Journal, the official publication of the World Association of Sleep Medicine, dedicated to Pediatric Sleep in Canada, researchers document the connections between sleep and the productivity, mental and physical health of Canadian children and youth.

What happens when kids don’t get enough sleep?

Children who do not sleep well frequently miss school; they try to sleep in or they are simply too tired and can’t make it to school. When they attend school, they have a hard time focusing and following instructions, so their performance suffers. They are irritable and have difficulty regulating emotions, so they suffer from higher levels of anxiety and depression.

Poor or insufficient sleep is also connected with higher suicide risks and drug use.

But there’s good news. Healthy sleep can be obtained and maintained.

The solutions aren’t necessarily complex. They require prioritizing healthy sleep education in Canadian schools, targeting sleep health promotion in public health campaigns and integrating sleep into health and social services provided to children and their families as an integral part of their care.

Few across the country have access to timely and proper diagnosis and care. Evidence-based treatments for pediatric sleep disorders are effective, including therapeutic measures like cognitive behavioural therapy and controlled comforting, or medical interventions, like continuous positive airway pressure, use of oral appliances or adenotonsillectomy. We need sufficient publicly funded resources allocated for both sleep diagnosis and services provided by experts.

We also need to support healthy sleep education in schools and school-based sleep promotion programs.

Delaying school start time by even 10 minutes has also shown to have a significant positive impact on adolescents’ sleep and physical activity.

Health care providers also need formal training regarding pediatric sleep. They currently receive little or no education in sleep medicine during their training.

Solutions like this on the ground are vitally important, but we must also engage with policy-makers at all levels of government to ensure that children and families have access to sleep laboratories, sleep physicians and experts when they need them.

And together, we need to generate community awareness on the importance of healthy sleep for our children and youth.

Reut Greuber is an associate professor with the department of psychiatry at Mcgill University and director of the Attention, Behavior and Sleep Lab at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute.