Another common mistake is putting their children to bed too late at night. Drewek said kids between the ages of 2 and 4 need 11 to 13 hours of sleep each night.

Sleep deprivation in children often manifests itself as hyperactivity, Drewek said, which sometimes leads to a misdiagnosis of hyperactivity disorder. That diagnosis can lead to unnecessary medication.

Her best advice is for parents to keep their pediatricians advised of their children’s sleep habits. Nap time and bedtime routines also should be established to support consistent sleep.

Hoffman, 24, said yesterday he had been staying awake until the early hours of the morning, and then sleeping in until late morning, since the Storm’s first trial match against Manly on Friday.

Storm’s 21-man squad for its World Club Challenge bout against English Super League champions Leeds Rhinos, on March 1, left Melbourne late last night.

Players have been told not to sleep until after a brief stopover in Hong Kong in order to get their body clocks used to the different time zone. But Hoffman wanted a head start.

“They gave us (advice) to try and sleep later,” he said.

“I’ve been going to sleep as late as I can and sleeping in. Hopefully it works.”

“Few are aware that sleep talking, teeth-clenching and snoring are diseases,” said Han Jin-kyu, a sleep specialist and director of the Seoul Sleep Center in Nonhyeon-dong, southern Seoul, in a recent interview with The Korea Times. “Those symptoms are directly linked to myocardial infarction, hypertension, diabetes, heart attack and even stroke.”

“A lot of sleepiness-related crashes tend to be more severe… where you fall asleep at the wheel and you hit a tree or you cross the median and hit an on-coming car,” said study author Dr. Najib Ayas of the Vancouver Coastal Health and associate professor of medicine at UBC.

“Even if you do not fall asleep at the wheel, it has been shown that patients with sleep apnea or sleep deprivation have reduced motor function. It affects coordination, dis-tractability or vigilance.”

Here’s another good reason to put away those cigarettes - a new study shows that smoking can lead to unhealthy sleep patterns, making you feel groggier the next day. Scientists have long speculated that smokers have poorer sleep quality than nonsmokers because of conditions associated with the habit, such as sleep apnea and lung disease. Now, research from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine led by Dr. Naresh M. Punjabi, shows that smoking might be the culprit for decreased sleep quality.