Today is World Sleep Day, did you sleep well last night?
In fact, adolescents around the world have been sleeping less than six hours a night in the past decade, with the highest number of sleep hours recorded in the world in the Netherlands and less than six hours per night in Japan.
Previously, a "White Paper on Sleep in Chinese Adolescents and Children" released by the Chinese Sleep Research Association showed:
They investigated the sleep data of more than 60,000 adolescents and children aged 6-17 and found that more than 62.9% of adolescents and children slept less than 8 hours, of which 81.2% of children aged 13-17 did not get enough sleep.
Adolescents aged 6-17 years old are in a critical period of physical and brain development, sleep is crucial for children's growth and development, long-term sufficient sleep plays an important role in consolidating children's memory, promoting brain function development, promoting physical strength and energy recovery, and promoting growth.
But if your child doesn't sleep well, it's really harmless, and if your child often stays up late, be sure to check out this TED Talk: People who don't sleep well have "garbage" in their heads.
(Click on the video to watch, there are benefits at the end of the article)
Children who don't get enough sleep and don't go to bed on time
Worse academic performance?
The report found that sleep deprivation has a significant impact on children's cognitive abilities, grades, personality, physical health and mental health.
In terms of physical and mental health, 36.5% of adolescents with poor sleep quality will be obese, while only 3.7% of adolescents with good sleep quality will develop obesity;
40.5% of adolescents with poor sleep quality experienced nervous breakdowns or depression, compared with only 1.4% of adolescents with good sleep quality.
In terms of achievement indicators, 45.5% and 34.1% of adolescents and children with good sleep were in the top 5% and 6-10% of their classes, respectively, while 41.9% of children who did not sleep well were ranked below 75% of their class.
What is it that steals children's sleep and causes more than 80% of teenagers to get sleep deprivation?
According to the report, the most important factors affecting children's sleep status are schoolwork pressure (67.3%), followed by 3C products (27.1%) and sleep environment such as noise and light (24.8%), which can be said to cause a bad cycle of "high academic pressure - lack of sleep - poor grades".
Professor Semel in the United States recently conducted an experiment: they recorded the sleep and study of 535 high school students in Los Angeles in their ninth, tenth, and eleventh grades for three fourteen days.
The results of the survey found that when a student gave up sleep to have more time to study, he performed worse in class the next day. Students who stay up late want to make themselves understand the learning content better by staying up late, but the effect is the opposite.
"That's true," said a junior at a middle school in Los Angeles, "and sometimes after staying up late to study, it's harder for me to grasp what I'm learning in class the next day." Eventually, I had to go back to self-study in the evenings. "That's how a vicious circle begins.
In addition to insufficient sleep time, irregular sleep time can also affect children's learning. A study in the United Kingdom found that children who did not have a regular bedtime did poorly on reading and math tests.
Researchers at the University of London found that children who went to bed at irregular times, or who went to bed after 9 p.m., scored lower on reading and maths tests than children who went to bed earlier.
Of course, there are also doubts that the cause of a child's poor grades may be more than a lack of a regular bedtime.
In fact, the researchers found that children with irregular bedtimes who also came from more socially disadvantaged families were less likely to read every night or even have no access to books or other reading materials, and they watched more television than their peers, often having a television in their own bedroom.
However, the researchers noted that when these factors were controlled, there was still a link between irregular bedtime and low test scores.
Therefore, allowing children to have adequate and regular sleep can better help them learn.
Schools in Europe and the United States are postponing classes
Ask your child to wake up an hour late
In fact, regarding the problem of children's lack of sleep, the Ministry of Education issued a "sleep order" in 2021, which made clear requirements for the bedtime of primary and secondary school students:
Elementary school students generally go to bed no later than 21:20;
Junior high school students no later than 22:00;
High school students no later than 23:00.
Elementary school students should get 10 hours of sleep a day, junior high school students should get 9 hours, and high school students should get 8 hours a day.
And some schools in our country have implemented relevant policies to ensure that children can have enough sleep time.
The survey found that delaying school day can ensure that children get enough sleep and have more time to eat a good breakfast, which in turn improves the efficiency of learning in the morning.
Therefore, Zhejiang has decided to implement the policy of postponing school in the morning in primary schools across the province, requiring students in the first and second grades of primary school to arrive at school no earlier than 8:00 in the morning, and should be appropriately delayed in winter.
But is it reasonable to postpone classes? Many critics argue that isn't it more scientific to let children go to bed early?
A child can go to bed early in early childhood or elementary school, but as they get older, they may sleep later and later from middle school, whether for subjective or objective reasons.
As children grow older, their independence gradually increases, especially for junior high school students, who are more determined and controlled by themselves.
According to a study by the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, teenagers' bodily functions are 2 hours later than adults every day, "getting teenagers up at 7 a.m. is like waking adults up at 5 a.m."
If the school requires the children to arrive at school at half past seven, the children have to get up by 6 o'clock to wash, pack their school bags, and eat breakfast.
Isn't it necessary to go to bed before 8 a.m. to get 10 hours of sleep? It is possible for elementary school students to do it with relatively easy schoolwork, but it is almost impossible for middle school students.
That's why the American Academy of Pediatrics is advocating that schools start no earlier than half past eight in the morning to ensure that children get enough rest.
This initiative has not stopped. In 2017, Start School Later, a U.S.-based nonprofit, also launched an initiative to postpone school hours, pushing at least 16 states in the United States to plan to postpone school hours this year.
From this point of view, instead of blindly advocating "going to bed early and getting up early", directly postponing the school time and letting the children sleep more in the morning and eat breakfast more slowly is the royal way to improve physical fitness and learning efficiency.
It's not that the more you sleep, the better
Staying up late and making up for it feels like it's worth the loss
Next, I would like to share with you some authoritative and scientific advice on sleep, especially for teenagers.
Getting enough sleep is undoubtedly the most important thing – the National Center for Biotechnology Information has studied a large number of 4- and 5-year-olds and found that children who sleep longer have a more normal body mass index, and those who sleep less are more obese.
In addition, children who went to bed before 8 a.m. had a more normal weight than those who went to bed more than 9 p.m., and children who woke up after 7:30 a.m. had a more normal weight than those who woke up before 6:30 a.m.
But don't make the mistake of thinking that the more sleep you get, the better, and you can't "one size fits all" for children of different ages. The "Children's Sleep Guidelines" published by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends:
Infants from 4 months to 12 months: should be 12 to 16 hours
Children from 1 to 2 years old: should take 11 to 14 hours
Children from 3 to 5 years old: 10 to 13 hours
Children from 6 to 12 years old: should take 9 to 12 hours
Teenagers between 13 and 18 years old: 8 to 10 hours
But the reality is that nearly 8 out of 10 elementary and middle school students sleep less than 8 hours a day — according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, and those who don't get enough sleep spend 2 hours more than normal on weekends.
But this kind of make-up sleep can't save much of the situation - this group of people will have more frequent naps, drowsiness and other symptoms, they need more alarm clocks to remind them to wake up, and they need to consume more caffeine to refresh their minds.
A school in Minnesota, USA, postponed the morning start of high school by more than an hour to 8:30. The result?
After a while, some parents complained that their children's after-school sports activities and school club time were affected after such a postponement of school hours. "Those who stay up late are still staying up, and even staying up even later. ”
A year later, however, school researchers found through an extensive survey of teachers and students that while parents' fears were justified, many students were spending an extra hour sleeping. These students said they came to school feeling refreshed and focused. As a result, the number of brawls on campus has decreased.
A quantified number is that the decision to delay the children's morning class by an hour led to an average score of 1,288 to 1,500 for 10 percent of a school's top students taking the SAT with a total score of 1,600.
Although we can't let school delay the start time, we can cultivate the habit of napping children - there are studies in the United States that prove that napping habits can improve learning outcomes in early childhood and childhood. In Spain, there have been many reports of studies on the correlation between study time and napping, and napping habits are also common among children in Spain.
In fact, it doesn't take long, even if it's only 5 minutes, to make a big difference in the child's energy and spirit for the day.
Quality is more important than duration, and bedtime habits are key
Harriet Hiscock, an associate professor at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Australia, once mentioned that "sleep quality may be more important than sleep time, and normal bedtime and bedtime may be more important." ”
Helping your child develop good sleep habits can help you get better sleep quality. In the previous "2019 White Paper on Sleep for Chinese Adolescents and Children", it was also mentioned that electronic products are the second biggest factor that causes children to lack sleep time.
A report from the American Academy of Pediatrics also mentions that more and more teenagers are now exposed to electronic products, and the average person has at least one electronic device in their room.
Teens aged 12-18 are exposed to at least 4 electronic devices at the same time after 9 p.m., and the use of these devices can make it harder for children to fall asleep.
Also, playing brain-stimulating games (video games such as shooters) before bed can also lead to less time in a child's deep sleep (REM time) than a child who falls asleep normally.
In addition to helping children develop good bedtime habits, parents should also pay attention to creating a good rest atmosphere.
For example, coordinate the routine of the whole family. Letting children go to bed earlier and sleep more is not only good for their learning, but adults also have an extra hour or two to watch movies and TV on their own, read books, and relax, which is also good for our mental health.
Or make a distinction between the activities at home, such as watching TV in the bedroom, do not affect the children, if the space at home is limited, the child is sleeping, and the adult is watching TV, you can consider buying a wireless headphone, you can enjoy it yourself, and do not affect others.
We all have various expectations for children, but health is the capital of everything, and a good biological clock is the biggest shortcut for children to gain a healthy body. Whatever the reason, try not to let your child stay up late.