Sleep efficiency (but not sleep duration) of healthy school-age children is associated with grades in math and languages

• Sleep contributed significantly to explaining grades in math and languages.
• These associations were found in relation to sleep efficiency but not to sleep duration.
• Sleep did not contribute significantly to explaining grades in science and art.

ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to examine the associations between objective measures of sleep duration and sleep efficiency with the grades obtained by healthy typically developing children in math, language, science, and art while controlling for the potential confounding effects of socioeconomic status (SES), age, and gender.Study designWe studied healthy typically developing children between 7 and 11 years of age. Sleep was assessed for five week nights using actigraphy, and parents provided their child's most recent report card.ResultsHigher sleep efficiency (but not sleep duration) was associated with better grades in math, English language, and French as a second language, above and beyond the contributions of age, gender, and SES.ConclusionSleep efficiency, but not sleep duration, is associated with academic performance as measured by report-card grades in typically developing school-aged children. The integration of strategies to improve sleep efficiency might represent a successful approach for improving children's readiness and/or performance in math and languages.