Parents ''ignoring the benefits of children''s sleep''
24/02/2010
The over-scheduling of social lives, a load of homework and TVs or mobile phones in the bedroom means that many children are not getting enough sleep; as a result, parents have been told to do what they can to ensure their young ones get as much rest as possible.
Despite many being "reluctant to play the tyrant by ordering them to bed", the Daily Mail forwarded tips as published in new book Nurtureshock: Why Everything We Thought about Children Is Wrong, by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman.
Sleep scientists have isolated and measured the impact of a lost hour of sleep, discovering its harmful consequences, it continued.
The writers asserted: "The surprise is not merely that sleep matters - but how much it matters. Not just to academic performance and emotional stability, but to seemingly unrelated phenomena, such as the obesity epidemic and the rise of attention deficit disorder."
Recommendations for parents follow comments reported by the Press Association from Dr Sean Drummond, who said in a speech for the American Association for the Advancement of Science that older people still need the same amount of rest as their younger counterparts, despite common beliefs.
Posted by Elizabeth Mewes
