Remove Digital Devices from the Bedroom to Improve Your Child's Sleep

Parents who take precautionary steps like removing digital media from the bedroom and encouraging a calming bedtime routine can improve sleep in children and teens.

Parents need to remove digital media from the bedroom and encourage a calming bedtime routine to improve sleep in children and adolescents, reveals a new study.

Penn State researchers outline some recommendations in a recent manuscript on digital //media and sleep in childhood and adolescence.

Kids Spend More Time on Digital Devices Than Parents Think
Kids are spending more time on digital devices than their parents think they are. 83 percent of children between the ages of 10 and 17 use electronic devices for three or more hours each day

‘Use of electronic gadgets before bedtime leads to insufficient sleep. Therefore, it is necessary to remove these devices from the bedroom.’

The manuscript appears in the first-ever special supplement on this topic in Pediatrics and is based on previous studies that suggest the use of digital devices before bedtime leads to insufficient sleep.

The recommendations, for clinicians and parents, are:

1. Make sleep a priority by talking with family members about the importance of sleep and healthy sleep expectations;

Light Emitted from Digital Devices Affects Sleep Quality
The blue light emitted from digital devices boosts alertness and regulates our internal body clock, or circadian rhythm, that tells our bodies when to sleep.

2. Encourage a bedtime routine that includes calming activities and avoids electronic media use;

3. Encourage families to remove all electronic devices from their child or teen's bedroom, including TVs, video games, computers, tablets and cell phones;

Free Speech may Not be Guaranteed in 2025: Experts
Free speech will not be guaranteed in 2025 despite the explosion of digital devices making the internet ubiquitous as per experts.

4. Talk with family members about the negative consequences of bright light in the evening on sleep; and

5. If a child or adolescent is exhibiting mood or behavioral problems, consider insufficient sleep as a contributing factor.

Your TV may Reveal Your Personality
What people actually do with their chosen device while watching TV, reveals a great deal about their personality, a clinical psychologist claims

"Recent reviews of scientific literature reveal that the vast majority of studies find evidence for an adverse association between screen-based media consumption and sleep health, primarily delayed bedtimes and reduced total sleep duration," said Orfeu Buxton, associate professor of biobehavioral health at Penn State and an author on the manuscript.

The reasons behind this adverse association likely include time spent on screens replacing time spent sleeping; mental stimulation from media content; and the effects of light interrupting sleep cycles, according to the researchers.

Buxton and other researchers are further exploring this topic. They are working to understand if media use affects the timing and duration of sleep among children and adolescents; the role of parenting and family practices; the links between screen time and sleep quality and tiredness; and the influence of light on circadian physiology and sleep health among children and adolescents.

Source-Eurekalert