Sleep Education Program with Self-Help Treatment—Sleep-Promoting Behaviors for Children and Adolescents in Japan

TL;DR

A sleep education program with self-help tools improves sleep habits and reduces daytime sleepiness in children and adolescents.

Contribution

The review highlights the effectiveness of combining sleep education with self-help practices in school-based interventions.

Findings

Sleep education programs improve sleep-related knowledge and promote healthier sleep behaviors.

These programs reduce daytime sleepiness and irritability in children and adolescents.

A single educational session followed by a self-help period is effective for behavioral change.

Abstract

Late bedtimes and insufficient sleep duration among children and adolescents have been consistently associated with daytime sleepiness, irritability, and poorer academic performance. To mitigate these adverse consequences of insufficient sleep, it is essential to provide children, students, teachers, and parents with not only knowledge about sleep improvement but also practical tools that facilitate behavioral change. This review synthesizes existing evidence from studies that have addressed this issue by evaluating students’ individual sleep behaviors using checklists of sleep-promoting practices. Drawing on practical examples from school-based interventions, the review highlights the effectiveness of sleep education programs for children and adolescents. These programs aim to bridge the gap between sleep-related knowledge and actual behavioral change by targeting daily sleep habits. Typically, such programs consist of a single 50 min educational session focusing on the importance of sleep and strategies for improvement, followed by a two-week self-help period during which students actively practice and monitor specific target behaviors. Overall, the findings indicate that sleep education programs incorporating self-help components not only enhance sleep-related knowledge but also promote healthier sleep behaviors and improve sleep patterns. Moreover, these programs effectively reduce daytime sleepiness and irritability among children and adolescents, thereby contributing to a healthier and more adaptive school life.

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