- BOSTON (Reuters Health) -
US children and adolescents are sleep-deprived and it's affecting their
performance in and out of school, according to findings to be presented
here Wednesday at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Pediatrics
(AAP).
This lack of adequate sleep could have potentially serious long-term health
consequences, according to Dr. Carl E. Hunt, director of the National Center
on Sleep Disorders Research at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
in Bethesda, Maryland.
"Chronic lack of sleep is a major health problem in children as it
is in adults," Hunt told Reuters Health. "Evidence shows that
elementary-age children need at least 9 hours of sleep per night to be
well rested and many of them aren't getting it," he said.
To help educate parents, physicians and children about the importance of
sleep, the AAP is partnering with NHLBI on a national public awareness
campaign called the "Sleep Well. Do Well. Star Sleeper Campaign."
"It is an awareness issue. We all know that diet and exercise are
important to health but what is not generally appreciated is that sleep
is just as important," Hunt said. "The most common sleep problem
in kids is not sleep disorders but simply not getting enough sleep on a
regular basis."
The price children pay for sleep deprivation can be high, Hunt said.
"Lack of enough sleep on a regular basis can impair school performance,
learning and memory, mood, behavior and it can even have health consequences
related to blood pressure," Hunt said. "There are even some disturbing
data now that children with sleep apnea, which is not uncommon in children,
don't do as well in school as children who don't have sleep apnea."
A major goal of the campaign is to shape children's attitudes about sleep
before they become teenagers to prevent drowsy driving accidents.
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