Assess sleep problems early in primary school and provide preventive intervention, including sleep hygiene education, to protect later academic performance¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

The article recommends that schools and services attend to children's sleep difficulties because persistent problems predict later poor academic performance. It notes children's sleep problems "are often overlooked" yet carry identifiable medical, familial and psychological risk factors, making early intervention feasible. It points to trials of school-based sleep education programs showing benefits for sleep and academic performance, and to sleep hygiene practices such as "maintaining a consistent bedtime routine and sleep schedule".

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Assessment of difficulties initiating and maintaining sleep, since persistent rather than transitory problems carry the academic risk

Constraints¶

• The article's own evidence is observational; it calls for future studies to disentangle the exact mechanisms behind the longitudinal association

Target Learners¶

• primary school-aged children (7–13 years)

Target Learning Goals¶

• protecting academic performance
• healthy sleep habits

Related Strategies¶

• Deliver sleep education at school to improve sleep, cognition and academic performance
• Clinicians query for consistency in sleep routines and schedules and discuss sleep health with families before formal schooling entry as preventative support for school readiness

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Stormark KM, Fosse HE, Pallesen S, Hysing M (2019) The association between sleep problems and academic performance in primary school-aged children: Findings from a Norwegian longitudinal population-based study. PLoS ONE 14(11): e0224139. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0224139