A sleep counselling programme that is being piloted in four Glasgow secondary school should be expanded, according to charity Sleep Scotland.

The charity is calling on the Scottish Government to provide the funding for the expansion.

The organisation, which has been working with children with sleep issues for 12 years, says that it has been approached by an increased number of parents whose children are not in healthy sleeping routines. 

Director Jane Ansell said: "We would like the Scottish Government to intervene to fund the training of more sleep counsellors to deal with the growing problem of kids who just aren’t functioning through lack of sleep.

"Children need sleep to reach their full potential. You wouldn’t send somebody to school without having the right amount of food, so why would you send them without enough sleep?"

Research suggests that teenagers sleeping less than five hours had a 71% higher risk of depression than those who slept eight hours, and a survey from 1998 suggests that there is a link between lack of sleep and poorer education results.

The charity is currently working with teenage pupils in Glasgow to teach them tips about how to sleep properly, such as the improtance of establishing a routine and why late-night TV should be avoided. While many pupils were only getting as little as four or five hours sleep a night, on account of watching TV or playing computer games, they recommend more than nine hours sleep a night.  

Nikki Cameron who has been running the sessions in the schools,said: “We can’t be macho about sleep anymore, by seeing surviving on four hours a night as a virtue.

"Sleep is important for emotional and physical wellbeing and also for a young person learning, because that is when memories are processed, and the brain can store the learning."