Rochester, N.Y. - The days of staying up all night and sleeping until noon are nearly over for school aged students. Most Rochester area districts begin classes next week.
Sleep experts are stressing the importance of a good night’s sleep for children from kindergarten to high school.
“Not sleeping leads to difficulties in academic performance, behavior problems in school and there is some good data to say that is a risk factor for car accidents.” said Heidi Connolly, Pediatric Sleep Medicine Physician with Golisano Children’s Hospital.
If children wake up on their own on school days, Connolly believes they are getting enough sleep, otherwise, she says, they should be getting more.
The amount of sleep students are recommended to receive varies by age. Elementary students should get approximately 10-11 hours of sleep with middle school students sleeping between nine to ten hours and high school students sleeping between nine to nine-and-a-half hours each night.
