Technology Shown to Disrupt Children’s Sleep Quality

by | Apr 22, 2016 | 2013, Infant and Children's Health, Sleep

Written by Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS. A new study finds “significantly shorter sleep duration” with increased computer use and television viewing and recommends that electronic media devices should not be in the bedrooms of children.

Sleep is a crucial component to a healthy lifestyle. In addition to affecting mental health conditions such as depression, suicide risk, and anxiety (1, 2, 3), poor sleep quality also affects our physical well-being by increasing risks for type 2 diabetes, obesity, and high blood pressure (4, 5, 6, 7). Compared with individuals who receive adequate sleep, disturbed sleep has been linked to more vulnerability to accidents and injuries both on and off the job (8).

Now a new study (9) has started to show that poor sleep quality among children is linked to increased technology exposure. In the study, 353 school-aged children (171 boys, 172 girls) from 27 schools answered a questionnaire in 2006 and again 2008 on their health behaviors. Television viewing and computer use was assessed by their responses to the questions, “How many hours daily do you usually watch television, videos or DVDs?” and “How many hours daily do you usually use a computer or play games with a console?”  TV viewing and computer use was only applied to school days. Finally, the presence of media in children’s bedrooms was assessed by two questions: “Do you have a television in your own bedroom?” and “Do you have a computer or game console in your own bedroom?”

The researchers found “significantly shorter sleep duration” with increased computer use (p < 0.001) and television viewing (p < 0.05) as well as later bedtimes with increased computer use (p < 0.001) and television viewing (p < 0.01).  In addition, increased computer use also predicted “unfavorable changes” in sleep duration (p < 0.001) and bedtimes on school days (p < 0.001) and weekends (p < 0.01). Unfortunately, the researchers did not give specific data on how much sleep was lost and what constituted “increased computer use”.

For the researchers, “computer use, TV viewing, and the presence of media in children’s bedrooms may reduce sleep duration, and delay bedtimes.” And as computer use and television viewing are “likely accompanied” by low physical activity (10), an unhealthy diet (11), and overweight (12), the researchers also concluded that “Electronic media devices should not be placed in a child’s bedroom” and “the screening of media use habits, as well as sleep habits, should therefore be included in health behavior screening.”

Source: Nuutinen et al.: Do computer use, TV viewing, and the presence of the media in the bedroom predict school-aged children’s sleep habits in a longitudinal study?. BMC Public Health 2013 13:684.

© 2013 Nuutinen et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)

Click here to read the full text study.

Posted November 2, 2015.

Greg Arnold is a Chiropractic Physician practicing in Hauppauge, NY.  You can contact Dr. Arnold directly by emailing him at PitchingDoc@msn.com or visiting his web site at www.PitchingDoc.com.

References:

  1. Alattar M, Harrington JJ, Mitchell CM, Sloane P. Sleep problems in primary care: a North Carolina Family Practice Research Network (NC-FP-RN) study. J Am Board Fam Med 2007;20:365–374
  2. Drake CL, Roehrs T, Roth T. Insomnia causes, consequences, and therapeutics: an overview.  Depress Anxiety 2003;18:163–176
  3. Roberts RE, Roberts CR, Duong HT. Chronic insomnia and its negative consequences for health and functioning of adolescents: a 12-month prospective study.  J Adolesc Health 2008;42:294–302
  4. Chen MY, Wang EK, Jeng YJ. Adequate sleep among adolescents is positively associated with health status and health-related behaviors.  BMC Public Health 2006;6:59
  5. Goodfriend TL. Obesity, sleep apnea, aldosterone, and hypertension. Curr Hypertens Rep 2008;10:222–226
  6. Hayashino Y, Fukuhara S, Suzukamo Y, Okamura T, Tanaka T, Ueshima H; HIPOP-OHP Research group. Relation between sleep quality and quantity, quality of life, and risk of developing diabetes in healthy workers in Japan: the High-risk and Population Strategy for Occupational Health Promotion (HIPOP-OHP) Study. BMC Public Health 2007;7:129–137
  7. Lamberg L. Rx for obesity: eat less, exercise more, and—maybe—get more sleep. JAMA 2006;295:2341–2344
  8. National Sleep Foundation. 2008 Sleep in America Poll: Summary of Findings
  9. Nuutinen T.  Do computer use, TV viewing, and the presence of the media in the bedroom predict school-aged children’s sleep habits in a longitudinal study? BMC Public Health 2013 Jul 26;13:684. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-13-684
  10. Marshall SJ, Biddle SJH, Gorely T, Cameron N, Murdey I: Relationship between media use, body fatness and physical activity in children and youth: a meta-analysis. Int J Obes 2004, 28:1238–1246
  11. Lipsky LM, Iannotti RJ: Associations of television viewing with eating behaviors in the 2009 health behaviour in school-aged children study. Arch Pediat Adol Med 2012, 166:465–472
  12. Kautiainen S, Koivusilta L, Lintonen T, Virtainen SM, Rimpelä A: Use of information and communication technology and prevalence of overweight and obesity among adolescents. Int J Obes 2005, 29:925–933