Nursery World - A third of primary school children sleep less than the recommended hours

New research conducted by the British Nutrition Foundation (BNF) as part of BNF Healthy Eating Week has revealed that 32 per cent of primary school children reported sleeping less than nine hours on the previous night.

As a result, the BNF will encourage nurseries, schools, universities and other organisations across the UK to focus on good sleep as part of its seventh annual Healthy Eating Week on 10-14 June 2019.

According to the NHS, primary school children should sleep 9.5 - 11.5 hours a night.

Sleeping well represents the new, fifth category of challenges set by the BNF for this year’s Healthy Eating Week, alongside eating breakfast, getting your five a day, drinking plenty and being active.

Organisations can opt to focus on one challenge per day, or all five at once.

Settings which sign up to BNF Healthy Eating Week 2019 will get access to free resources including posters, factsheets, videos and quizzes, all tailored to the early years.

Last year, more than 4,600 schools and nurseries registered to take part.

Roy Ballam, managing director and head of education at the BNF said, ‘Each year we introduce a new challenge, and with emerging research linking poor sleep quality to less healthy food choices and increased risk of obesity, we felt it was important to address this issue.’

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