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Newsletter Archive |
How Lack Of Sleep Can Affect
Your Child’s Education
Children who don’t get enough sleep at night often don’t perform well in school during the day.
According to Brown Medical School and Bradley Hospital research, elementary and middle
school students who stay up late exhibit more learning and attention problems.
Seventy-four children (ages six to 12) from Rhode Island and Massachusetts participated in the
three-week study. The participating children were healthy and didn’t suffer from sleep or
psychological disorders. The children wore wrist monitors that logged motion to ensure
accuracy throughout the night.
One week, the children went to bed and woke up at their regular times. Another week they
stayed up much later than normal. This meant eight hours of sleep for first and second graders
and six-and-a-half hours for children in the third grade and up. During the last week, kids spent
no fewer than 10 hours in bed each night.
The study’s organizers had teachers complete weekly performance and behavior reports without
informing them of the amount of sleep students received. Teachers reported more academic and
attention problems when the children had less sleep than normal.
Gahan Fallone, the study’s lead author says, “Staying up late can cause increased academic
difficulty and attention problems for otherwise healthy, well-functioning kids. The results
provide professionals and parents with a clear message: When a child is having learning and
attention problems, the issue of sleep has to be on the radar screen.”
–
Adapted from the National Institute of Nursing Research and the National Institute of Mental
Health websites
How To Remember Names
Do you have trouble remembering names when you meet people socially or for business
reasons? If you do, you might want to try the following techniques to aid your memory.
Focus. You want to send a positive message to the person you’re meeting. Pay attention to your
pose. Are you leaning in? Are you telling the person that this moment is important to you and
that he or she has your undivided attention?
Ask. Repeat the name back to the person you’re meeting. Ask if you’re saying it right. This
makes you an active participant in the meeting and shows that you’re paying attention.
Make sure you know the spelling of the person’s name. It will help cement it in your mind.
And once you’ve repeated the name and the spelling in your mind, cross reference it with
something else – possibly a celebrity or athlete’s name you’re already familiar with.
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