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A good night's sleep 'improves school performance'

Young children who have regular bedtimes and sleep for a minimum of 11 hours perform better at school, a new study has found.

Researchers from SRI International, an independent research institute in California, found that children in households with bedtime rules performed better in language skills, reading and maths activities compared with those who went to bed at different times.

They also found that children who had earlier bedtimes and slept for a minimum of 11 hours a night had improved cognitive development.

Researchers analysed the data of 8,000 children aged four from the Childhood Longitudinal Study Birth Cohort, including information from interviews with parents about the usual times their child went to bed and woke up at nine months old and again at four years.

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