Children who sleep for at least 10 hours a night may perform better when they start school, researchers in Canada found.
Scientists at Sacre-Coeur Hospital in Montreal studied the sleeping patterns of almost 1,500 children under age 6.
The 10 percent who slept for less than 10 hours a night were three times more likely to score worse on a language test than children who got at least 10 hours sleep, the researchers said in a statement on EurekAlert, a Web-based science news service.
Findings of the six-year study suggests there is a "critical period" in early childhood where lack of sleep impairs development, including the ability to learn and retain new words, as well as certain motor skills, the researchers said.
"The results of this paper highlight the importance of giving a child the opportunity to sleep at least 10 hours a night throughout childhood, especially before the age of 31/2 years," said Jacques Montplasir, who led the research at the hospital's Sleep Disorders Center.
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In a separate study, scientists in Belgium found adolescents who routinely used mobile phones after bedtime were as much as five times more likely to suffer tiredness after a year than those who didn't use the devices for nocturnal chats.
Almost two-thirds of the 1,656 adolescents surveyed said they used mobile phones after bedtime at least occasionally, the researchers said in a statement on EurekAlert. Adolescents whose slumber was delayed by the use of mobile phones more than once a week were 5.1 times more likely to be "very tired" after a year, the scientists said.
"Parents should be more aware of the fact that young people today use the modern means of communication in ways they probably cannot imagine," said Jan Van den Bulck, who led the research at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.
"Taking a mobile phone to your bedroom is not trivial."
The results of both studies were published Saturday in the journal Sleep.
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