Argumentative Essay On Sleep And Children

Children and Sleep

Children are losing sleep and their full capacity to learn because of sleep deprivation. There has been controversy in whether this is true or just fictitious. But, in NurtureShock written by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman, they mention the “lost hour” kids failed to acquire. The lost hour is the amount of sleep between thirty minutes to an hour that if they obtain it, they may do better in school. It must be looked at like this: children are losing sleep and the effects are not very comforting, plus, their academic abilities are being affected in a negative way. But, we are able to stop this trend with careful planning.

Bronson and Merryman cited a survey done by the National Sleep foundation stating that: “ninety percent of American parents think their child is getting enough sleep,” but that “...sixty percent of high schoolers report daytime sleepiness,” and “a quarter admit their grades have dropped because of it,” in addition “...twenty to thirty-three percent are falling asleep in class at least once a week.” Teens receive about

Sleep is more important than we believe. Just one hour of extra sleep can do so much for a growing child. A team reported that sixth grade children were performing as if they had the same cognitive development as fourth graders because they didn’t have that extra hour. And, another team reported it affected their IQ as much as lead exposure. (32-33) Sleep is affecting the children that we put in our education system. The children themselves are only functioning at half maybe even a fourth of what they are capable of. The children who are falling behind are being blamed for laziness or just being called stupid or not very smart, but the actual reason is sleep