Have you heard the latest news? A recent study has shown that the smartphones and tablets in bedrooms disrupt the sleep of children even if they are switched off. Just take a look at the article below and find out more about this. A group of experts reviewed 11 studies involving more than 125,000 children to find out if technology was impacting sleep. So, they revealed that using smartphones or tablets before bedtime doubled the risk of a disrupted night’s sleep and raised the changes of feeling excessively sleepy the following day by two-fold.
But crucially, sleep was also significantly disturbed by the mere presence of devices – almost to the same level as actually using a gadget – suggesting that they should be removed from bedrooms altogether to improve sleep. Another, study has shown that 7 in 10 children and 9 in 10 teenagers have at least one device in their bedrooms, and most are used near to bedtime. It is thought that screen-based media devices adversely affect sleep through a variety of ways, including delaying or interrupting sleep time; psychologically stimulating the brain; and affecting sleep cycles, physiology and alertness.
These tips can also help:
- Pay attention to how your kids act during and after watching TV, playing video games, or hanging out online. If they’re using high-quality, age-appropriate media; their behavior is positive; and their screen-time activities are balanced with plenty of healthy screen-free ones, there’s no need to worry.
- If you’re concerned about heavy media use, consider creating a schedule that works for your family. This can include weekly screen-time limits, limits on the kinds of screens kids can use, and guidelines on the types of activities they can do or programs they can watch.