Generous Hours of Sleep Should Be Allowed
While moderate mental work does not in the healthy grown person necessitate an increase in the amount of sleep, the child at school, constantly using his brain in the accumulation of new ideas, needs an even more generous proportion of sleep than if his brain were not so occupied. Again, if the child shows any signs of nervousness, he ought to be allowed to sleep a little longer than the more stolid non-temperamental child. The following is the average duration of sleep required at different ages:
| 4 | years of age | 12 | hours | |
| 7 | years of age | 11 | hours | |
| 9 | years of age | 10 | 1⁄2 | hours |
| 14 | years of age | 10 | hours | |
| 17 | years of age | 9 | hours |
Up to the approach of puberty (the change from childhood to adult life) a child may well be allowed to sleep a little later in the morning in the winter than in summer. Again, if as is frequently the case, he should suddenly commence to grow in height very rapidly an extra hour or half-hour in bed may be of the greatest service in weathering the strain of the rapid growth.