When screen time affects kids' zzz time
If your child has trouble falling asleep at night, a remedy may be right under your nose: the power switch on your iPad, smartphone, laptop or other device with a glowing screen.
"Turn off the toys and be as regular about it as the sun setting," Dr. Joshua Rotenberg, a pediatric neurologist and sleep specialist who practices in San Antonio and Houston, tells parents. "The best thing is to not look at gizmos an hour after sundown if you want your kids to sleep."
As U.S. children spend an increasing amount of time staring at screens that emit so-called blue light, researchers are delving into the light's possible effects on sleep. Studies have shown that having a TV in the bedroom poses a significant risk for sleep problems in children and that nighttime exposure to blue light can be disruptive in certain adults.
Though the impact of light from newer personal electronic devices on children is still being studied, limiting light exposure for children with an identified sleep problem can only help, Rotenberg says.
Until recently, Lorene Dillard's son, Travis, was using his iPhone, the TV and the computer right up until bedtime. The 11-year-old, who has autism, would struggle to fall asleep, lying in bed talking, despite taking medication. He'd then wake the family in the middle of the night, wanting to start the day.
"It was starting to impact the family quite heavily," his mother says.
She began monitoring his use of electronics. "What I started noticing is when he had interactions with those, he seemed to be recharging a battery - like a rush of adrenaline almost," she says. "When he was in front of the screen, he seemed to be the most wound up or alert."
About two months ago, she began turning off all electronics one hour before Travis' 9 p.m. bedtime. "It was a shot in the dark. I said, 'Let's try this,' " she says.
At first, her decision was met with loud protests. But now, a nightly winding-down routine consisting of a warm shower, songs and story time is followed by a quiet night for all.
"We honestly haven't had a sleeping problem since," Dillard says. "It's been this wonderful, miraculous change."
One study published in 2010 in the journal Sleep Medicine found that the use of electronic media by children and adolescents does appear to have a negative impact on their sleep.
The article, by researchers at Flinders University in Australia, says that as TV and computer screens become increasingly larger - and as bright-light exposure from screens is considered to influence production of melatonin, the hormone that helps us sleep - more studies may need to incorporate such variables.
At night, artificial light can stimulate some people. "If you're watching TV or playing on an iPad, it's like you're in California on the beach," Rotenberg says. "Your brain still thinks it's daytime."
That can delay the onset of sleep in susceptible people by an hour or more.
This is because the main way the brain synchronizes its natural clock is through light exposure. A set of cells in the retina is sensitive to light exposure and projects to the part of the brain that coordinates circadian rhythms. When activated by light, these cells send a signal to the brain, which then suppresses the release of melatonin.
Today, people with circadian rhythm disorders - for example, night owls who stay up late and sleep late - are prescribed the use of morning lamps that emit blue light.
In a study published this year, Swiss and German researchers found that the type of light emitted by some computer screens can affect circadian physiology and alertness. People ages 19 to 35 had a different physiological response to a typical computer screen versus computer screens that were adjusted to have lower levels of blue brightness, reported the article in the Journal of Applied Physiology.
"Probably there's a worry there," says George C. Brainard, director of the light-research program at Philadelphia's Thomas Jefferson University.
A video game, for example, provides both stimulation - the thrill of the game - and exposure to blue light.
"You're exciting the body," says Brainard, whose program looks at the biological and behavioral effects of light on humans.
Currently, Brainard's team is working on a new lighting system for the International Space Station, with funding from the National Space Biomedical Research Institute.
"The lighting system that we're working on for the space station, very specifically, will avoid using blue light in the evening for the astronauts" in order to best prepare their bodies for sleep, he says.
For children, sufficient sleep is important for learning, memory, emotional regulation and behavior.
"Your problems in the daytime are directly related to what's happening at night," says Dr. James H. Henderson, a sleep specialist at Christus Santa Rosa Hospital-City Centre in downtown San Antonio.
As ever more adolescents and teens have their own mobile electronic devices, they are devoting more time to peering into screens.
Children 8 and younger now spend an average of two and a quarter hours a day using screen media - almost an hour more per day than in 2005, reports a new survey by the nonprofit organization Common Sense Media.
Whether it was the light from the devices or the stimulation from their content that was keeping Travis Dillard up, his mother can't say. She is just grateful everyone in her home is getting more rest.
A calming bedtime routine can be the key, Henderson says. "We're gradually removing stimuli. We're gradually removing light. So when that child goes to bed, they have the best opportunity possible to go to sleep," he says.
Most children learn their behavior from watching adults, Henderson notes. Nearly everyone today seems to have accessories that devalue sleep.
"We, as parents, have to model for our kids as well, to get better sleep ourselves," Henderson says. "We have to model for our kids appropriate sleep patterns that make us healthier, better-functioning adults."
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