According to researchers at the Bradley Hospital in Rhode Island, a teaching hospital for Brown Medical School, preschoolers should receive around 12 to 15 hours of sleep each day. However, they found children under age five fall short of the recommended amount--averaging just 8.6 hours of sleep at night. In addition, the study, published in the journal Sleep, showed 82% of children over 18 months were not taking naps on some or all days of the week.

An increasing amount of research states that daytime sleepiness from chronic sleep deprivation or poor quality sleep has significant impact on academic performance, concentration, attention and mood. Researchers say even twenty fewer minutes of needed sleep may significantly affect behavior. According to researchers, insufficient sleep has been associated with daytime fatigue, inability to concentrate in school, ADHD, a tendency to doze off in class, problematic behaviors, and lower levels of social skills. One study showed that teachers believed that some children with sleep disturbances were hyperactive and less attentive.

Parents may overestimate the amount of sleep their child needs while being unaware of when children actually fall asleep or awaken during the night. In addition, poor sleep cycle and problematic behaviors may be difficult to break and observe. That may be because there is a great deal of variation among children at different ages. Research has shown that medical conditions may cause or contribute to sleep problems even when overt medical symptoms seem well controlled. For example, asymptomatic children with asthma and gastroesophageal reflux may have poor sleep and daytime fatigue. Allergies may also cause respiratory distress when sleeping. In one study, almost one-third of the children in elementary school reported significant body pains during the night, of which parents were largely unaware.

However, there are some ways to increase the sleep your child receives. Some are easier to achieve than others. First, establish sleep-healthy bedtimes, bedtime routines, habits, and diets. Identify and reduce as much daytime stress as possible. Limit TV and other "screen time" (computers, video games), especially at bedtime. Do not put a TV in your child's bedroom as these children tend to go to bed later and get less sleep than those without-- and the children who get less sleep are more likely to spend 2 or more hours watching TV! Several studies report that more total sleep, earlier bedtimes, and later weekday rise time are associated with better achievement in school.

Kids Express Learning Center focuses on assisting children during naptimes in order to ensure that each child obtains the amount of rest he or she needs. All classrooms on campus take part in a daily rest time as required by licensing laws. We feel this is an important part of each child’s daily routine. We hope to find your family well-rested and healthy during 2006.