Click here to visit the Star Sleeper Program now.
The National Center on Sleep Disorders Research at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute is proud to bring you the Star Sleep section on the Professor Garfield web site. It is part of the “Sleep Well. Do Well. Star Sleeper Campaign” to educate America's children— and their parents, educators, and healthcare providers — about the importance of adequate nighttime sleep. The goal is to reach children at a time when many of the habits affecting their life-long health, well-being, and productivity are being shaped with the message that they need at least nine hours of sleep each night to do their best in school and other activities.

A growing body of scientific evidence shows that inadequate sleep results in tiredness, irritability, easy frustration, and difficulties with focusing attention and modulating impulses and emotions. In children, inadequate sleep may lead to excessive daytime sleepiness, interfering with a child's ability to learn in school and perform well in other activities. Many children with chronic sleep deprivation may not seem sleepy and may even appear to be overactive. Chronic sleep loss in these children may be overlooked or erroneously attributed to hyperactivity or behavior disorders.