Chapters 2 and 3 Summary and Analysis

Chapter 2: Bronson says that sleep scientists have determined that the lack of sleep has dramatic effects on the brain, since much of the brain's growth and development takes place during sleep. Because children today lose an hour of sleep, on average, each night, compared with thirty years ago, children today are more prone to ADHD, obesity, and overall poor performance.

Bronson says that when Dr. Sadeh, a researcher at Tel Aviv University, tested children's performance based on their sleep patterns, he found that the performance gap was considerable, like the difference between two grade years.

MRI data has shown that tiredness affects learning in addition to cognition. Because the brain recharges and builds upon its memories during sleep, children need to sleep in direct proportion to how much they are learning during the day. Bronson says that sleep-deprived students...