Teachers are then faced with exhausted pupils in the classroom each morning because they have not had enough sleep.
Now the Scottish Government is to spend £200,000 on sleep lessons for secondary school pupils who will be taught how to achieve at least nine hours’ sleep a night in a bid to boost academic performance.
The cash – £100,000 a year for two years – will be handed to a charity who will give parents, teachers and sixth-formers sleep lessons in a move welcomed by teaching unions.
Recent research at a Scottish high school found one in six pupils falls asleep at their desk every day.
The public money will be given to Sleep Scotland, which has successfully piloted sleep lessons at West Calder High, West Lothian.
Schools in Glasgow, Edinburgh and the Lothians, Grampian and the Highlands will now receive sleep lessons, delivered by teachers and sixth-form mentors.
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “Ensuring children and young people sleep properly and get the correct amount of sleep each night is important to their development.
“We expect Sleep Scotland to use a proportion of their funding to work in schools to promote children’s Health and Wellbeing, an integral part of Curriculum for Excellence.”
