Never underestimate the benefits of sleep. The results of recent research in Spain showed that children who sleep time less than 9 hours it tends to decline in academic achievement in school.
"Most children sleep less than the associated intellectual development had recommended them. This is the first study in Spain, which proves that the loss of sleep and poor sleep habits can affect the academic performance of school children," said Ramón Cladellas, researchers at the Faculty of Psychology AUB.
Peneltian published in the journal Cultury Educación, involving 142 primary school which consisted of 65 girls and 77 boys from different schools. In that study, parents were asked to fill out a questionnaire about the number of hours of sleep a child per night. Researchers also assessed a series of academic skills, such as communicative, methodological, transverse, and specific.
"Although the sample showed the kids slept almost 8 hours, but they have poor sleeping habits, in which 69 per cent had returned home after 9 pm and a new bed after 11 pm. Thus, children with sleep time 8 or 9 hours tend to have worse performance than those who sleep 9-11 hours, "he said.
"Taking into account the results obtained, we believe that by getting more sleep than 9 hours on a regular basis will improve the academic achievement of children," added Cladellas.
Researchers say, losing sleep and poor sleep habits contribute to a negative effect, especially on children generic skills (communicative, methodological, and transverse) are very important for academic performance. In fact, children with irregular sleep patterns will create cognitive abilities, such as memory, learning, and motivation, lower.
"In the end, lack of sleep will impair the ability of children in terms of linguistics, grammar, and spelling, and key aspects related to verbal comprehension. This condition can result in denial of all subjects," explained Cladellas.
The authors conclude that maintaining a healthy sleep pattern since childhood contribute to positive cognitive development. Researchers hope these findings make the parents become aware of the problems that can arise from lack of sleep.