Sleep health must be prioritized in school
Open letter to the Minister of Health on the occasion of the International Sleep Day.
The sleep association believes that a significantly greater attention about school sleep can prevent anxiety and depression and many other diseases. Poor sleep affects concentration and learning.
Sleep health and sleep challenges must be a fixed, integrated part of the school health service's teaching – from primary school and out high school. Society can save billions of dollars.
If you do not have major sleep challenges later in life, it reduces sick leave, reduced productivity and significant health expenses. Today, we know that the consumption of sleep medicine has more than doubled in recent years among adolescents.
We challenge the Minister of Health Jan Christian Vestre and the Ministry of Health and Care Services: The Sleep Association requests that guidelines be prepared for the school health service for regular teaching on sleep throughout the country.
Good sleep is crucial to health and for good learning!
Researchers from the University of Agder and the University of Oslo have investigated the relationship between sleepiness, deficit of sleep and school performance among youth.
In the international study « Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study » (TIMSS), 4499 in 2015 and 4685, respectively, participated in Norwegian ninth graders and their teachers. The results in the study showed a negative relationship between sleep deficit and school performance in mathematics and science.
Insufficient sleep can have a negative impact on public health and affect pupils' school performance, and should therefore be taken into account by both education and health authorities. (National Center for Sleep Medicine)
Research shows that at least five percent of all adolescents struggle with delayed sleep phase disorder. Delayed sleep phase disorder can have major consequences for mental health and school performance, so correct diagnosis and treatment is important. This can be detected at an early stage whose sleep gets more attention in school, with better facilitation for youth struggling through the school day due to poor sleep.
Data from the Young@Hordaland study was linked to official data on completed high school. The results show several young people with insomnia, with symptoms of circadian rhythm disorder, with shorter sleep length and longer sleep time dropped out of high school compared to those who completed the school. The conclusion of the study is that it is important to look at poor sleep health as a risk factor for adolescents to drop out of high school, and may be beneficial with preventive measures to prevent this.
