Overstimulated, overscheduled kids are getting at least an hour’s less sleep than they need, a deficiency that, new research reveals, has the power to set their cognitive abilities back years.  It has been documented in major studies that children, from elementary school through high school, get about an hour less sleep each night than they did 30 years ago. Children’s brains are a work-in-progress until around the age of 21, and much of that work is done while a child is asleep.  Researchers have found that just the loss of one hour of sleep each night is equivalent to the loss of two years of cognitive maturation and development. 

Many scientists theorize that sleep problems during formative years can cause permanent changes in a child’s brain structure. It’s even possible that many of the hallmark characteristics of being a tweener and teen—moodiness, depression, and even binge eating—are actually symptoms of chronic sleep deprivation.  The standard tips on getting children to sleep better are: avoid caffeine; remove the TV/computer from their bedroom; don’t sleep on a full stomach; put up dark blinds and most importantly have consistent bedtimes and wake-times.
 

For information on how many hours of sleep are needed for each age group, click on the link below.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/how-many-hours-of-sleep-are-enough/AN01487