What are the links between screen time and sleep time and what can you do about it?
Sleep.
From the newborn haze, to the toddler trials, to the preschool-years preposterous bedtime demands list, getting our kids to sleep can often seem like a full-time job. Most parents can tell sleep battle stories that would make the hardest commando soldier curl up and weep. While we’d all do almost anything to get our kids to sleep better and longer, could we be contributing to our kids sleep problems?
The links between screen time and sleep in young kids has been the subject of a recent research project conducted by Melbourne’s La Trobe University's School of Psychology.
Researcher Amanda Richdale looked at 101 children aged between two and five years and investigated a variety of sleep issues such as difficulty falling asleep, night time waking and early morning risers. The study looked at a variety of factors that could affect kids’ sleep, including things like being too hot or cold in the bedroom and screen time.
While 95% of the kids in the study spent an average of one hour of TV per day and up to 19 minutes of electronic device time per day, some kids in the study were spending over three hours per day in front of the screen – which put them at a much greater risk of developing sleep problems.
Kids that were too hot or too cold in their bedrooms at night were also more likely to have sleep disturbances.
''Parents should make sure children are sleeping at a comfortable temperature and that they don't have things like TVs, computers and iPads in their bedrooms or spend too much time watching them,'' Professor Richdale told the SMH and recommended 11 – 12 hours of sleep per ight for two – five year olds.
Our very own resident tech expert, Dr Kristy recommends 90 minutes of screen free time before bed, for everyone – kids and adults included.
How do your kids sleep? Have you ever thought too much screen time has affected their sleep?
No comments:
Post a Comment