Improving sleep, cognitive functioning and academic performance with sleep education at school in children

Abstract

We aimed at measuring the impact of a school-based sleep education program (ENSOM: ‘EN’ for ‘ENfant’ and SOM for ‘SOMmeil’ in French) on sleep, cognitive functioning and academic performance in children. In contrast with existing sleep education programs, ENSOM was designed by sleep experts with the intent of being autonomously achieved by teachers. One-hundred and thirty children aged 8–9 years took part in control versus ENSOM interventions. Compared to the control intervention, total sleep time was extended by 31 min per night, sleep efficiency improved by 2.9%, and sleep latency and wake after sleep onset were shortened by 7.7 and 4.5 min respectively after the ENSOM program. Sleep improvement remained significant at one-year follow-up. Attention, executive functioning, academic performance and parents' sleep knowledge also improved significantly. Given the frequency of sleep curtailment in children, school-based programs could be an efficient method to implement sleep education on a large scale.