R esearch has indicated that sleep of adequate duration and quality obtained on a routine basis is important for physical and psychological well-being. Unfortunately, the majority of children and adolescents do not obtain enough sleep. Due to school start times and daily obligations such as homework and extracurricular activities, children's and adolescents' sleep schedules are often incompatible with their biological clocks. Thus, they may frequently obtain an insufficient amount of sleep, which has been shown to have broad implications across academic, cognitive, and behavioral functioning. Therefore, there exists a need to address sleep issues within a school setting. There has been a surge in interest in the use of mind-body interventions for health-related conditions, including sleep. This chapter explores the empirical and theoretical support for addressing sleep with mind-body interventions, with a particular focus on the role of the school.
THE EFFECT OF SLEEP ON THE MIND AND BODYSleep consists of a series of stages that are broken down into rapid eye movement and nonrapid eye movement. Parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) activity predominates, and sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activity is reduced during the third stage (e.g., slow wave sleep). These systems are implicated in arousal and relaxation responses, respectively. When sleep