Teach our children how to sleep at school

STUDENTS should be taught the art of sleeping at school so they can get more shut-eye to improve their focus during class, experts say.

Tamara Ball

STUDENTS should be taught the art of sleeping at school so they can get more shut-eye to improve their focus during class, experts say.

Studies have shown good sleep patterns can assist with concentration and therefore academic performance.

Now researchers at UniSA's Centre for Sleep Research say a new study highlights the need for sleep to become a topic that is studied at school.

They monitored the sleeping patterns of Year 6 and 7 students who received four lessons focused on sleeping, over six weeks, then compared the results to other students in the same grades. They discovered that students who had completed the lessons slept for an average of seven minutes longer each night.

Researcher Gabrielle Rigney said this increase was significant and noticeable in the nights following the lessons. "We know how important sleep is in terms of getting children to focus in the class and helping them learn," Ms Rigney said.

"We did find, when we went back and monitored the children months later, that the benefits had been lost. It highlights the need to have the importance of sleep introduced into the curriculum."

Ms Rigney suggested teachers provide initial lessons on the importance of sleep before incorporating the topic into other subjects such as maths and English.

SA Primary Principals Association president Steve Portlock said tired students provided teachers with challenges and were occasionally sent home for falling asleep.

Mr Portlock, however, warned the primary school curriculum was already overcrowded. "You hear talk of topics such as dog safety being added and it all gets a bit much," he said.

"Physical education teachers often discuss the importance of sleep and rather than establish it as a topic on its own, we need to look at it through science, maths and English." An Education Department spokeswoman said: "It is up to individual schools to make decisions on topics included in their curriculum."

Sydney University sleep researcher Dr Nathaniel Marshall said phones and computers deprived children of sleep and said they should aim for nine hours a night.

Direk mum Fiona Ball agrees there should be more sleep education in schools.

"I've heard stories about kids falling asleep in class," the mother of James, 14, and Tamara, 6, said. "I'm lucky, my two stick to routines."