Reducing the amount of sleep that students get directly affects their performance at school. An American study asked schoolteachers to look at the effects of sleep restriction in children between six and twelve years of age. The teachers found that children who stay up late have trouble thinking clearly and demonstrate more learning problems. 
Gahan Fallone supervised the study at the Brown Medical School and Bradley Hospital in the state of Rhode Island. Doctor Fallone now works at the Forest Institute of Professional Psychology in Springfield, Missouri. He presented the results last month at a science reporters conference in Washington, D.C. The publication Sleep also reported the findings.

The teachers were asked to complete weekly performance reports on seventy-four schoolchildren. The study lasted three weeks. During the period, Doctor Fallone and his team controlled the amount of sleep the children received.

One week, the children went to bed and awoke at their usual times. Another week, every child was kept awake later than normal. Each night, the youngest boys and girls had less than eight hours of sleep. The older ones were limited to six and one-half hours. During the final week of the study, each child received no less than ten hours of sleep a night.

The teachers were not told the amount of sleep the students received. The study found that students who received eight hours or less had the most difficulty remembering old information. They also had trouble learning new information, completing difficult work and following directions.

The study did not find that sleep restriction caused hyperactivity in the children. The teachers reported that students were, in fact, a little less active at school when they got less sleep.

Doctor Fallone says the results provide experts and parents with a clear message: When a child has learning problems, the issue of sleep must be considered among the possible causes.