Almost half of all teenage girls are too sleep-starved for school

Sleep deprivation is affecting youngsters’ academic performance, with almost half of teenage girls admitting they cannot stay alert at school, research suggests.

While 63 per cent of 12 and 13-year-olds say they are getting enough sleep for their studies, this drops as they get older.

Almost half (48 per cent) of 14 to 15-year-old girls say they do not get enough sleep to concentrate on their schoolwork, a study by the School and Students Health Education Unit found. Two-fifths (41 per cent) of 14 to 15-year-old boys say the same.

The study, based on data gathered on more than 83,000 children in 2010, also reveals that the proportion of youngsters getting eight hours or more of sleep a night drops with age. Four-fifths of 12 to 13-year-olds got this amount of sleep, compared to 61 per cent of 14 to 15-year-old girls and 66 per cent of boys of this age. And almost half (48 per cent) of the youngsters questioned said they do not normally get enough sleep for their health.