While tired adults yawn and nod, children who get less than the recommended nine or 10 hours a night may tend to the other extreme, bouncing around, unable to concentrate, losing interest quickly - behaving as if they had attention deficit and hyperactivity disorders. Across the US, sleep scholars are just now starting to delve into links between lack of sleep and learning and behaviour problems in elementary school-age children. Families many times have forgotten how to look at behavior and take sleep into account,'' she said. They see their child's behaviours changing and never seem to be able to put it together with what's happening at night.'' Most pediatricians receive very little instruction in sleep and sleep disorders. One sleep researcher studied the 2,200-page basic pediatric text and found that only 17 paragraphs touched on the subject.
Teachers get no instruction in sleep and sleep disorders whatsoever.
They are never told, for instance, the very direct ways in which lack of sleep at night can keep kids from remembering what they have been taught during the day. The brain needs sleep to sort and file information Think of the brain as a cluttered desk with some enviable automatic functions. During sleep, it takes the absence of new clutter as its cue to sort and file, sort and file. That process is essential for memory formation, according to sleep researchers. If the brain cannot rest long and deeply enough to move information from temporary to long-term memory, the information is lost.