Many children don’t get enough sleep, according to John Herman, Ph.D., director of the sleep disorders center at Children’s Medical Center of Dallas. Homework, household chores, social activities, medical conditions and overstimulating sleeping environments (such as bright lights or TVs, radios and computers left on in a child’s room) are among the reasons children don’t get the proper amount of sleep. But, poor schedule planning on the part of parents may play the biggest role, he says.

“Parents often view getting proper nutrition of vital importance to their child, and will go to any end to make sure the child gets enough to eat,” Herman says. “Few parents maintain the same attitude when it comes to sleep.”

Typically, elementary-age children require 10 or 11 hours of sleep and middle school-age and high school-age children require at least nine hours of sleep. Herman says sleep-deprived children often experience excessive daytime sleepiness and mimic symptoms similar to attention-deficit disorder and/or hyperactivity. Studies show that tired children experience more learning and behavioral problems.

“A child should not have to be blasted out of bed every morning – that is sleep deprivation,” Herman says. “Children require as much sleep as it takes to wake up spontaneously and feel alert all day.”

Once the school year has begun, Herman suggests keeping a child’s sleep schedule the same on weekdays and weekends to enable the child to begin to sleep earlier on Sunday night, beginning the school week well rested.

“With the anxiety induced by the upcoming school week, some children who sleep late Saturday and Sunday mornings wind up unable to sleep Sunday night. For these children, the weekend schedule should be planned around achieving an early Sunday bedtime,” Herman says.