Study: Televisions in children's bedrooms impair their sleep

A study shows that children who have a television in their bedroom have their sleep impaired.

Research has shown children who have a television in their bedrooms have later bedtimes and shorter sleep duration. A new study shows similar sleep problems in children who have a “small screen,” such as a smartphone in their room.

The study, “Sleep Duration,Restfulness, and Screens in the Sleep Environment,” published in the February 2015 Pediatrics (published online Jan. 5), surveyed 2,048 fourth- and seventh-graders about bedtimes, wake times, feelings of sleepiness and the presence of televisions, smartphones and other small screens in their bedrooms. Children who slept near a small screen and children with a television in their bedroom had shorter weekday sleep durations. Children who slept near a small screen were more likely to report perceived insufficient sleep. TV or DVD viewing and video or computer game playing were also associated with shorter weekday sleep duration and sleepiness. Children with screens in their sleep environment and more screen time also had later bedtimes.

Study authors conclude the findings caution against children’s unfettered access to screen-based media in their bedrooms.
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Sleep, academics, and behavior all improved by limited screen time

A study shows that limiting screen time improves sleep quality, academic performance, and behavior in children. JR

Parents may not always see it, but efforts to limit their children's screen time can make a difference. A new study, published inJAMA Pediatrics, found children get more sleep, do better in school, behave better and see other health benefits when parents limit content and the amount of time their children spend on the computer or in front of the TV.

Douglas Gentile, lead author and an associate professor of psychology at Iowa State, says the effect is not immediate and that makes it difficult for parents to recognize. As a result, parents may think it is not worth the effort to monitor and limit their children's media use. But Gentile says they have more power than they realize.

"When parents are involved it has a powerful protective effect across a wide range of different areas that they probably never would have expected to see," Gentile said. "However, parents aren't likely to notice that putting limits on the children's media is having these effects seven months later."

Considering that children average more than 40 hours of screen time a week, not counting time spent on a computer at school, even small changes can make a difference, researchers said. They are not suggesting parents completely eliminate screen time, but find a healthy balance.

The study found there is a ripple effect associated with the benefits of limiting both screen time and media content. Gentile is not surprised to see a direct impact on sleep, academics and behavior. However, limited screen time also indirectly affects body mass index. The study found that children got more sleep if parents limited screen time, which also resulted in lower risk of obesity. Parents limiting exposure to violent media resulted in increased prosocial behavior and lowered aggressive behavior seven months later.

Researchers analyzed the media habits of more than 1,300 school children who were recruited to participate in an obesity prevention program. Students and parents were surveyed about everything from screen time limits, to violent media exposure, to bedtimes and behavior. Teachers reported grades and commented on student behavior and school nurses measured each student's height and weight.

Data were collected at the start of the program and seven months later at the end of the program. By looking at these factors collectively with a group of children over a school year, it was easier for researchers to identify patterns that are hard to recognize in individual children.

"As parents, we don't even see our children get taller and that's a really noticeable effect. With media, what we're often looking for is the absence of a problem, such as a child not gaining weight, making it even more difficult to notice," Gentile said.

"Even with changes that we do notice, we really don't recognize in the moment how all these things are related to each other across time," he added. "Yes, as screen time goes up, school performance goes down, but that doesn't happen overnight. If I watch a lot of TV today, I don't get an F in my class tomorrow."

Doctors can make a difference, too

The American Association of Pediatrics recommends no more than one to two hours of screen time a day for children two years and older. Reality far exceeds those recommendations, which might explain why doctors feel it is futile to talk with parents about guidelines for media use, Gentile said. The study provides further evidence of why pediatricians need to have that conversation.

"Hopefully, this study will give pediatricians a better sense of efficacy that it's worth taking the time to talk to parents," Gentile said. "Even if doctors only influence 10 percent of the parents, that's still millions of children having much better health outcomes as a result."

Researchers recommend doctors talk with parents about setting limits and actively monitoring media use. This can include talking with children about media content, explaining the purpose of various media and providing overall guidance.

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An hour and a half of television can disrupt children's sleep

A study found that watching as little as an hour and a half of television can disrupt a child's sleep.

Kids who watch as little as 1.5 hours of TV a day may get less sleep than those who don't watch as much television, according to a new study from Spain.

Moreover, as overall TV-watching increases, essential sleep time declines, the study of more than 1,700 youngsters found.

"Television could modify the level of sleep in young children," said lead researcher Marcella Marinelli, who's with the Center for Research in Environmental Epidemiology, in Barcelona. Reduced sleep could be a risk factor for obesity and behavioral problems such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, she added.

It's known that TV-watching affects many functions in children, including school performance, weight and development, added Dr. Adriana Cadilla, a pediatrician at Miami Children's Hospital in Florida.

The remedy is to not use TV as a babysitter, to limit the amount of TV kids watch, and monitor the programs they see, these experts said.

There are many unknowns when it comes to kids and media, such as how much is too much and the effect of content on children, Cadilla said.

"There are lots of theories. One is that lots of bright colors can overexcite kids just before going to bed. There's a lot of violence -- even in cartoons, which could affect sleep," she said.

Because information on the content of the television programs was lacking for the Spanish study, it's not possible to say for sure that specific types of TV shows influence sleep. Also, data wasn't available on the timing of TV-watching or children's physical activity levels, which might affect sleep quality, too.

Still, parents should offer alternatives to TV, involving their children in different social activities such as sports or music, or just spending family time together, Marinelli said.

"Some educational cartoons or movies could help children improve their language skills and should be used for educational purpose, but parents should stay with their children and stimulate them during viewing," said Marinelli.

The report's findings were published in the March 10 online edition of JAMA Pediatrics.

Cadilla said the study highlights the need for parents to limit TV. The American Academy of Pediatrics also recommends limiting all types of media, including computers, video games, iPads and smartphones. The recommendation calls for no screen time for children under 2 years of age, and no more than one to two hours a day for kids older than that.

Also, keep televisions and other media out of children's bedrooms, Cadilla said. "The lack of TV or video games in a child's bedroom will help their sleep habits," she said.

Setting media "timeouts" -- when there is no TV or other media allowed -- or establishing a media-free zone can also help curb screen time, Cadilla said. "And don't watch TV while having dinner," she added.

For the study, Marinelli's team questioned parents of slightly more than 1,700 preschool and school-aged children about the time their kids spent watching TV and sleeping (including napping) each day. The preschoolers were 2 and 4 years old at the study's start, the others were 6 and 9.

The researchers found that children who watched TV for 1.5 hours or more a day slept less than kids with less TV time. And as viewing time increased to more than 1.5 hours a day, sleep declined even more.

Most of the children were followed-up four years later, and the same patterns emerged for weekday as well as weekend viewing, the researchers found.

At the follow-up of the 6- and 9-year-olds, those children whose TV-watching increased to more than 1.5 hours daily slept 20 percent less than when first seen, the researchers found.

However, "children who reduced the amount of time spent in front of the television had some recovery of sleep duration," Marinelli said.

According to the National Sleep Foundation, preschoolers typically sleep 11 to 13 hours each night, and most give up napping by age 5. Children ages 5 to 12 need about 10 or 11 hours of sleep.

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Smartphones hurting our ability to sleep and work

An article from the Wall Street Journal discusses how smartphones make us tired which can both hurt our ability to sleep at night and to be productive during the day.

For a productive day at work tomorrow, give the smartphone a rest tonight.

Reading and sending work email on a smartphone late into the evening doesn’t just make it harder to get a decent night’s sleep. New research findings show it also exhausts workers by morning and leaves them disengaged by the next afternoon.

That means the way most knowledge workers do their jobs—monitoring their iPhones for notes from the boss long after the office day is done and responding to colleagues at all hours—ultimately makes them less effective, posit researchers from University of Florida, Michigan State University and University of Washington.

The scholars conducted two studies of workers’ nighttime technology habits, sleep duration and quality, energy and workplace engagement. In the first study, 82 mid- to high-level managers were asked every morning how many minutes they used their smartphone after 9:00 pm the night before and how many hours they slept. Then, they were asked to rate their agreement with statements like “I feel drained” and “Right now, it would take a lot of effort for me to concentrate on something.”

In the afternoon, they had to assess statements about work engagement, such as “Today while working, I forgot everything else around me.”

Prior studies have shown that staying focused and resisting distractions takes a lot of effort, so when smartphone use interferes with sleep, it takes a toll the next day.

“The benefit of smartphone use may…be offset by the inability of employees to fully recover from work activities while away from the office,” the researchers write.

After accounting for sleep quality, the researchers found that work-related smartphone use in the evening was associated with fewer hours of sleep. The subjects who recorded shorter nights also reported depleted reserves of self-control, and those who felt morning exhaustion also indicated they were less engaged during the day, a domino effect that shows how an unending workday ultimately leads to poorer work.

The second study, which involved 161 workers, measured how late-night tech use—on smartphones, laptops, tablets and TV—can disrupt sleep and next-day work engagement.

In her book, “Sleeping With Your Smartphone,” Harvard Business School professor Leslie Perlow studied executives at Boston Consulting Group who were given a chance to disconnect on a regular basis. The executives became more excited about their work, felt more satisfied about their professional and personal lives and even became more collaborative and efficient.

Using any kind of electronic device affects sleep quantity and focus the following day, but smartphones are especially draining. That’s partly because the always-on, always-handy phone the first device we turn to, says Christopher M. Barnes, an assistant professor of management at University of Washington’s Michael G. Foster School of Business and a co-author of the paper. Having a screen so close to our faces probably doesn’t help us prepare for sleep, he adds.

The researchers don’t yet know if there’s a particular threshold at which smartphone use begins to affect sleep habits, but even 30 minutes before bedtime can take a toll, Barnes says.

The fix, researchers say, is to put down the phone and enjoy the evening. But that’s easier said than done, so long as managers send emails at 10:30 p.m. and expect responses by 10:31 pm. Barnes says real change will have to come from the top, with managers setting an example by not sending those messages in the first place, or at least toning down expectations on response time.

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Too much computer time makes autistic children sleep less

Autistic children are prone to sleep disorders, and excess screen time could add to the likelihood of sleep disorders in these children.

Kids with autism and related disorders are prone to sleep disturbances but a new study finds that screen time, especially in the bedroom, may make their sleep problems worse.

When researchers compared boys with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) to other boys, they found that all the kids with bedroom access to media slept fewer hours, but the relationship was twice as strong for the boys with autism.

"In-room media access was associated with about 1.5 fewer hours of sleep per night in the group with autism," said Christopher R. Engelhardt, who led the study at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

"This association can potentially be problematic, particularly if the reduction in sleep interferes with other daily activities, such as school, homework, interactions with other people, or driving," he told Reuters Health in an email.

Past studies suggest that up to 80% of kids with autism, and related conditions like Asperger's disease, experience sleep troubles, including difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep through the night.

Hormone melatonin

Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) also are known to have a high rate of sleep disturbances. With both conditions, it's unclear why sleep is so difficult.

Theories include a disruption in sleep-wake cycles that are regulated by the hormone melatonin, which is often deficient in kids with ASDs, Engelhardt and his colleagues write in Paediatrics.  Because kids with autism spectrum disorders, like those with ADHD, also tend to spend a lot of time watching TV and playing video or computer games, the researchers wondered whether that could be contributing to their sleep problems.

So they recruited the parents of 49 boys with autism spectrum disorders, 38 with ADHD and 41 comparison boys with typical development to fill out questionnaires about their children's bedroom screen access and sleep patterns.

 All the kids were between ages eight and 17. Boys with autism who had TV, computers or video games in their bedrooms got less sleep than all the other boys, including boys with autism who didn't have media in their bedrooms.

Limiting electronics

Without a TV in their room, boys with autism spent an average of about nine hours sleeping, compared to less than eight hours among kids with an ASD and a bedroom TV.

In contrast, bedroom TVs didn't seem to make a difference for boys with ADHD or typical development. Boys with autism with computers in their rooms slept nearly two hours less than boys with autism and no bedroom computer.

A lot of time spent playing video games, regardless of where they were located, was also linked to shorter sleep times among boys with ASDs. Even for typical children, too much time with TV or video games has been linked to attention problems, hyperactivity, arguments and physical fights, Engelhardt said. "We can't say that access to a TV causes less sleep," only that the two are linked for some kids, he said.

Last month, the American Academy of Paediatrics called for limiting screen time for all kids to one or two hours per day. ”This is a good recommendation for all children," Dr Beth Marlow, Burry Chair in Cognitive Childhood Development and director of the Sleep Disorders Division at Vanderbilt University Medical Centre in Nashville, Tennessee.

"Following this recommendation for kids with (autism spectrum) and ADHD is good, although children with (autism spectrum) or ADHD who are still having difficulty with sleep despite limiting electronics really deserve a sleep evaluation by their paediatrician or sleep specialist.

Time distortion

"Sleep troubles can also stem from anxiety, sleep apnoea, pain that the child might not be able to express, gastrointestinal problems or seizures, she said.

For typically developing kids, bedroom TV access doesn't usually seem to cut into sleep. "However, (Engelhardt's) finding for teens with ASD concurs with our clinical impressions – that these teens have difficulty 'switching off'' videogames," Michael Gradisar said.

Gradisar is a clinical psychologist who studies technology use and sleep, especially among teens, at Flinders University in Adelaide, South Australia. "Many teens have a distorted sense of time passing when playing videogames, however, it may be that this time distortion is stronger for teens with ASD," he said.

Parents can have a tough time managing how much their children play games or watch TV, he said. "It may take quite some time to do, but one option is for parents to introduce other hobbies and activities into their teens lives, so that video gaming eventually occupies less time."

Engaging features

"People with autism tend to spend more time with media outlets, researchers think, because the electronic worlds have engaging audio and visual features and their social interactions are easy relative to real life interactions."

This doesn't necessarily mean that parents should take TVs or video games out of their autistic children's rooms, but might consider limiting or monitoring media consumption, he said. "Screen media can certainly be good for kids with autism," he said.

"Scientists have long known that video games are great at teaching and reinforcing certain behaviours, so it's possible that these games can be used to adjust and shape the types of behaviours generally valued by society, such as behaviours intended to help others."

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Light at night may cause depression for those with sleep apnea

Research claims that dim light at night can increase depression for people who have obstructive sleep apnea.

New research suggests the estimated 12 million Americans who have obstructive sleep apnea should sleep in a very dark room.

Scientists at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center have found exposure to dim light at night can interact with sleep apnea and lead to increased levels of depression and anxiety in mice.

“Although it is unclear at the present time whether sleep apnea causes depression, both conditions are commonly seen together in patients. Our research suggests that sleeping even with a minimum amount of light may increase symptoms of depression in those with sleep apnea,” says Dr. Ulysses Magalang, director of Ohio State’s Sleep Disorders Center and a co-author of the study.

Obstructive sleep apnea is a common problem, especially among smokers and people who are overweight. The disorder causes abnormal breathing while sleeping, lowers oxygen levels and is linked to high blood pressure, diabetes, and higher risk of stroke and heart failure. The most common signs include loud snoring, daytime sleepiness, irritability and memory problems.

Magalang offers these suggestions for improving sleep and reducing light exposure at night:

• Use room-darkening drapes or shades on windows to block outside light from traffic, streetlights and neighboring buildings.
• Turn off the television, computer and other electronic devices before going to sleep.
• Choose clocks or night lights with red lighting instead of blue or green.

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Study: Children with autism or ADHD more likely to be addicted to video games

A study claims that video game addiction is more likely in children with autism or ADHD.

Boys with autism or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder are more at risk of addictive video game use than typically developing boys, according to new research.

The study of nearly 150 boys found that those with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) played video games for significantly longer periods each day than typically developing boys -- an average of 2.1 hours versus 1.2 hours. Boys with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) averaged 1.7 hours of video game use daily.

"Children with ASD and those with ADHD may be at particularly high risk for significant problems related to video game play, including excessive and problematic video game use," according to the study, published online July 29 and in the August print issue of Pediatrics.

Experts said they aren't surprised by the findings.

"Boys with ADHD and boys on the autism spectrum both have difficulties relating with peers," said Dr. Andrew Adesman, chief of developmental and behavioral pediatrics at the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Children's Medical Center of New York in New Hyde Park. Video games provide a diversion that doesn't require interaction with peers or siblings, he added.

Another professional said video games in and of themselves aren't the problem. "There does have to be structure around video game use. Like anything else, it's best in moderation," said Dana Levy, an assistant professor in the department of child and adolescent psychiatry at the NYU Child Study Center in New York City.

In the United States, about one in 88 children has an autism spectrum disorder, which can range from mild as in Asperger syndrome to full-blown autism with severely limited communication skills. It's estimated that between 3 percent to 7 percent of school-age children have ADHD. Boys are far more likely than girls to have either diagnosis.

Common features of autism include impaired social and communication skills, and a repetitive interest in a restricted number of activities. These symptoms may be directly related to problematic video game use, according to the University of Missouri researchers.

The most common symptoms of ADHD -- inattention and hyperactivity -- may also relate to problematic game use, the researchers noted. A previous study showed that when youngsters with ADHD started medication for their condition, their video game use went down, the authors pointed out.

The current study included information from 56 boys with an autism spectrum disorder, 44 boys with ADHD and 41 typically developing boys. Their ages ranged from 8 to 18. Parents completed questionnaires about their children's video game use.

Symptoms of inattention -- but not hyperactivity -- among boys with autism or ADHD were strongly linked to problematic video game use. A preference for role-playing video games among kids with an autism disorder was also more likely to lead to addictive video game play.

Levy said the consistency of video games appeals to kids with autism. "When you push a button, it does the same thing every time," she said. And for boys with ADHD, "video games are very visual, very engaging and exciting," she added.

The study found that more children with autism and ADHD had video game systems in their bedrooms than did typically developing boys. This is something Levy advises against.

"It's hard for parents to put something so engaging in the bedroom and limit its use," noted Levy. Adesman added that it's not necessarily a good idea for children with autism spectrum disorders to be isolating themselves by playing in their bedrooms, either.

But video game use may not be all bad, noted both experts. "Mastery of a video game by a boy with ASD may lead to improved self-esteem," said Adesman.

The study doesn't specify how much time spent gaming qualifies as "problematic." Overall, Levy said, "one to two hours a day of video games is fine, but it's best if they get other things done first."

Look at your child's overall day, Levy recommended. "If they're doing well in school and taking care of their other responsibilities, then video games are fine. But, if video games start to interfere in daily life, that's when they become a concern."

The American Academy of Pediatrics also recommends no more than an hour or two of total screen time daily.

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Too much TV hurts children's chances at kindergarten success and social skills

This study claims that extra TV time beyond recommendations hurts children's chances for kindergarten readiness and certain social and developmental skills.

Every hourly increase in daily television watching at 29 months of age is associated with diminished vocabulary and math skills, classroom engagement (which is largely determined by attention skills), victimization by classmates, and physical prowess at kindergarten, according to Professor Linda Pagani of the University of Montreal and the CHU Sainte-Justine children's hospital.

"This is the first time ever that a stringently controlled associational birth cohort study has looked at and found a relationship between too much toddler screen time and kindergarten risks for poor motor skills and psychosocial difficulties, like victimization by classmates," Pagani said. "These findings suggest the need for better parental awareness and compliance with existing viewing recommendations put forth by the American Academy of Pediatrics. The AAP discourages watching television during infancy and recommends not more than two hours per day beyond age 2. It seems that every extra hour beyond that has a remarkably negative influence."

Pagani conducted the study to discover the effect of television viewing prior to kindergarten. He said, "Much of the research on school readiness has focused on how kindergarten characteristics predict later success. Kindergarten entry characteristics predict long-term psycho-social adjustment and economic characteristics like income and academic attainment. Being innovative, my focus has been to examine what predicts kindergarten entry characteristics. Adding further originality, I also wanted to focus on neglected yet crucial aspects of school readiness such as motor skills, which predict later physical activity and reading skills, likelihood of being "picked-on," which predict social difficulties, and skills at linked to doing what you are supposed to be doing when having been given instructions, which are in turn linked to attention systems that are regulated by the brain's frontal lobe development."

991 girls and 1006 boys in Quebec whose parents reported their television viewing behaviour as part of the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development.

One extra hour of TV

Pagani noted that the standard deviation is a commonly used statistic tool that tells us what is within a normal range compared to the average. One standard deviation from the average daily amount of television viewed by the toddlers in this sample (105 minutes) is 72 minutes. Some of the children who participated in the study were two or even three standard deviations away from the average, and their kindergarten indicators were correspondingly worse than those who were one standard deviation away.

This study only looks at the most common form of screen time, which is in the home. However, it may be an underestimate because many child care settings use television as an activity during care giving.

Pagani said that "because of kindergarten's power to predict future productivity, the identification of modifiable factors that foretell not being ready for the transition to formal schooling represents an important goal for a productive society. By statistical standards, the results show highly controlled modest associations, yet these are net effects which suggest a developmental course which could ultimately compromise achievement, social relations, physical prowess, and preferences and habits toward a healthy lifestyle."

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Electronic media affects children's sleeping patterns

Research shows that children's sleeping patterns can be negatively affected due to the amount of time a child spends with electronic media.

Children's sleep disruption is worse with increased time spent watching TV or playing on the computer, finds research in Biomed Central's open access journal BMC Public Health. The greater the e-media use was at the start of the study, the shorter the sleep duration and the later the bedtime was eighteen months later. The academics suggest that where children are struggling to sleep, or are tired, their media habits should be taken into consideration.

The amount of sleep children get has a direct bearing on their performance in school and their mental and physical health. Snap shot studies suggest that the more kids use electronic media the less sleep they get, and that their sleep is more likely to be disturbed. But how much does watching TV or playing on the computer affect sleep patterns as children grow up?

To answer this question researchers from Folkhälsan Research Center, Finland, compared computer use and TV viewing with sleep patterns in 10-11 year olds and then reassessed them eighteen months later. Children with a TV or computer in their bedroom, compared with the frequency of usage, demonstrated a greater delay when going to bed on school days and the weekend which resulted in less sleep. However girls may be catching up at the weekends as they tended to sleep in more as they got older.

When the researchers looked at boys and girls separately they found that there were other gender differences -- boys with a computer or TV in their bedroom went to bed later than the girls and had a larger increase in bed time.

Teija Nuutinen, who led this study commented, "Children need extra sleep as they go through puberty but our study finds that TV and computer use affect the sleep of children. This is especially true during the week and may be impacting their school work as well as their development. Media viewing habits should be considered for kids who are tired and struggling to concentrate, or who have behaviour problems caused by lack of sleep."

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AAP suggests avoiding specific activities before sleep

The American Academy of Pediatrics suggest that adults and children avoid certain activities before bedtime listed below. Avoiding these activities will lead to better sleep.

Your behavior and activities before bedtime can affect how well you're sleeping at night.

The American Academy of Pediatrics offers suggestions for better sleep:

• Don't drink alcohol within at least four hours of bedtime.
• Cut out all caffeine at least four hours before bedtime.
• Stop eating spicy, heavy foods at least four hours before bedtime.
• Don't exercise heavily at least two hours before bedtime.
• In the hour before bedtime, avoid activities such as watching TV, playing video games or having in an argument.

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TV and Devices in Kids' Bedrooms Linked to Poor Sleep and Obesity

A study looks at the impact televisions and other devices in childrens' bedrooms has on their quality of sleep.

Children who bask in the nighttime glow of a TV or computer don't get enough rest and suffer from poor lifestyle habits, new research from the University of Alberta has shown.

A province-wide survey of Grade 5 students in Alberta showed that as little as one hour of additional sleep decreased the odds of being overweight or obese by 28 per cent and 30 per cent, respectively. Children with one or more electronic devices in the bedroom -- TVs, computers, video games and cellphones -- were also far more likely to be overweight or obese.

"If you want your kids to sleep better and live a healthier lifestyle, get the technology out of the bedroom," said co-author Paul Veugelers, a professor in the School of Public Health, Canada Research Chair in Population Health and Alberta Innovates -- Health Solutions Health Scholar.

Veugelers, director of the Population Health Intervention Research Unit that works with the Alberta Project Promoting active Living and healthy Eating (APPLE Schools), said the research is the first to connect the dots on the relationship between sleep, diet and physical activity among kids.

Nearly 3,400 Grade 5 students were asked about their nighttime sleep habits and access to electronics through the REAL Kids Alberta survey. Half of the students had a TV, DVD player or video game console in their bedroom, 21 per cent had a computer and 17 per cent had a cellphone. Five per cent of students had all three types of devices.

Some 57 per cent of students reported using electronics after they were supposed to be asleep, with watching TV and movies being the most popular activity. Twenty-seven per cent of students engaged in three or more activities after bedtime.

Researchers found that students with access to one electronic device were 1.47 times as likely to be overweight as kids with no devices in the bedroom. That increased to 2.57 times for kids with three devices, with similar results reported among obese children.

More sleep also led to significantly more physical activity and better diet choices, researchers found.

Co-author Christina Fung noted that children today are not sleeping as much as previous generations, with two-thirds not getting the recommended hours of sleep per night. In addition to healthy lifestyle habits, a good night's sleep has been linked to better academic outcomes, fewer mood disorders and other positive health outcomes, she said.

"It's important to teach these children at an earlier age and teach them healthy habits when they are younger."

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Study: Kids who watch age-appropriate TV, movies sleep better

Interesting study that looks into the type of TV kids watch and how well they sleep at night.

Changing the type of DVDs, videos and TV shows that preschoolers watch during the day may help them sleep better at night.

A program that encouraged parents of kids ages 3 to 5 to replace age-inappropriate media content with more suitable programming found "long-lasting, significant reductions in sleep problems," says Michelle Garrison of Seattle Children's Research Institute, lead author of the study in Monday's Pediatrics.

Researchers made no attempt to change the amount of TV viewed or the time of day it was watched. "We know that media is already playing a large role in the lives of many families," says Garrison. "We felt that just by changing the content, we could have an impact on the health and development of these kids," she says. "That was borne out in results."

Preschoolers with sleep problems improved in both sleep and daytime tiredness over the course of the 12-month study, she says, and children who didn't initially have sleep problems were less likely to develop them.

Insufficient and disrupted sleep has been associated with obesity, behavior problems and poor school performance, researchers say.

"There are so many immediate and long-term effects from sleep loss at this age that it's really worth taking those extra steps to try and get sleep on a good track," says Garrison, who is also an acting assistant professor at the University of Washington in the department of health services.

Nearly 600 families of preschool-age children in the Seattle area participated in the study. They kept sleep diaries and received home visits, follow-up telephone calls, and monthly mailings from case managers. Half of the families received an intervention focused on healthy media use. The other half served as a comparison group and received an intervention focused on healthy eating.

Researchers assessed the sleep habits of all of the children, including how long it took them to fall asleep, night wakings, nightmares, difficulty waking and daytime tiredness.

Families receiving the media intervention were encouraged not only to replace TV and video programming, but also to view TV with their children as much as possible and discuss the content with their kids to help them "process what they're seeing and learn more from what they're seeing," says Garrison.

Monthly mailings included a program guide tailored to the families' available channels with recommended TV shows and schedules and a newsletter with tips and reinforcement.

For preschoolers, inappropriate content has less to do with violent or R-rated movies and more to do with cartoons "aimed at slightly older children," such as SpongeBob SquarePants and Scooby-Doo, says Garrison. "These are fun shows I would totally sit down and watch with an 8- or 9-year-old, but for a 3- or 4-year-old, it's too much and too overwhelming."

"The fact that Bugs Bunny can be too violent for a 3-year-old is not something that always clicks with some families," she adds. "Yes, they may know that (a preschooler) shouldn't watch the latest Transformers movie, but they may not necessarily make that same association with cartoons that have the more funny violence or the superhero violence, because some of the content is marketed toward preschool-age children."

Age-appropriate fare cited includes Sesame Street, Dora the Explorer and Curious George.

Previous studies have found an association between increased media use and sleep disturbances in young kids.

Findings "reinforce the notion that we need to be vigilant with the content we're exposing our children to," says Dennis Rosen, associate medical director of the Center for Pediatric Sleep Disorders at Boston Children's Hospital. "At this age, they are affected by what they watch."

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