Autistic boys get less sleep with media in bedrooms

A study shows that media screens in the bedroom of autistic boys resulted in them getting significantly less sleep.

For boys with autism, having easy access to media in the bedroom is linked to significantly less sleep, according to researchers from the University of Missouri.

“Previous research has shown that bedroom access to screen-based media is associated with less time spent sleeping in the general population,” said Christopher Engelhardt, Ph.D., a postdoctoral research fellow at the MU Thompson Center for Autism and Developmental Disorders and the MU School of Health Professions.

“We found that this relationship is stronger among boys with autism.

“Our current results were cross-sectional, meaning that we are not able to determine whether pre-bedtime media exposure causes some children with autism to sleep less,” he said.

“However, the relationship between bedroom media access and sleep was particularly large among boys with autism, suggesting that we should continue to carefully research this possibility.”

For the study, researchers looked at the relationship between media use and sleep among boys with autism compared to typically developing boys or boys with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Parents of the boys in each group were surveyed regarding the child’s hours of media use each day, bedroom access to media and the average hours of sleep they received per night. The findings revealed a link between bedroom access to a television or computer and reduced sleep among boys with autism.

Furthermore, average video-game exposure was connected to less time spent sleeping among the boys with ASD.

“Even though our findings are preliminary, parents should be aware that media use may have an effect on sleep, especially for children with autism,” Engelhardt said. “If children are having sleep problems, parents might consider monitoring and possibly limiting their children’s media use, especially around bedtime.”

Engelhardt says future research should investigate the processes by which bedroom access to media could contribute to sleep disturbances in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

“It is also important to note that some media use may also be beneficial for children with autism,” Engelhardt said. “Future research is also needed to determine how video games and other technologies may be helpful in teaching and reinforcing skills and behaviors.”

It is estimated that about one in 88 children have ASD, which is characterized by social and communication difficulties as well as repetitive behaviors.

Sleep problems are very common in children with autism, and this may be due to a variety of underlying causes. Media use may worsen some of these underlying factors, and it appears to be an area for future research, Engelhardt said.

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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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Video game addiction and sleep disorders

Statistics from London claim video game addiction is to blame for the increase in sleep disorders in children.

Addiction to games is being blamed for increase in the number of young kids being hospitalised with serious sleep disorders.

NHS' latest figures show that there were 5,992 appointments for kids to see a sleep specialist last year, which amounted to more than 100 every week, the Daily Express reported.

The data covered kids, who had trouble sleeping as well as those suffering from sleep apnoea, where breathing stops momentarily, or severe snoring.

The effects of a sleeping disorder on a kid can be severe with a suggested link to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and poor grades at school.

Child sleep expert Andrea Grace, said that the problem with looking at any screen when it comes to night time is that it gives people a kind of false energy.

In the evening, kids are often absorbed with computer games, TV programmes, texting their friends or looking on Facebook and fail to realise that they are tired.

She added that that they often feel a bit "wired" and have great difficulty switching off themselves and the devices in which they are playing.

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Children with Autism and Video Games

This article discusses why children and teenagers with autism may use video games and other screen-based technologies more than other children.

Children and teens with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) use screen-based media, such as television and video games, more often than their typically developing peers and are more likely to develop problematic video game habits, a University of Missouri researcher found.

"Many parents and clinicians have noticed that children with ASD are fascinated with technology, and the results of our recent studies certainly support this idea," said Micah Mazurek, an assistant professor of health psychology and a clinical child psychologist at MU. "We found that children with ASD spent much more time playing video games than typically developing children, and they are much more likely to develop problematic or addictive patterns of video game play."

Mazurek studied screen-based media use among 202 children and adolescents with ASD and 179 typically developing siblings. Compared to typically developing children, those with ASD spent more time playing video games and less time on social media, such as Facebook. Children with ASD also spent more time watching TV and playing video games than participating in pro-social or physical activities. Conversely, typically developing children spent more time on non-screen activities than on TV or video games.

In another study of 169 boys with ASD, problematic video game use was associated with oppositional behaviors, such as refusing to follow directions or engaging in arguments. Mazurek says carefully controlled research is needed to examine these issues in the future.

"Because these studies were cross-sectional, it is not clear if there is a causal relationship between video game use and problem behaviors," Mazurek said. "Children with ASD may be attracted to video games because they can be rewarding, visually engaging and do not require face-to-face communication or social interaction. Parents need to be aware that, although video games are especially reinforcing for children with ASD, children with ASD may have problems disengaging from these games."

Even though Mazurek cautions that too much screen time could be detrimental for children with ASD, she says tapping into what children with ASD enjoy about video games could help researchers and clinicians develop therapies using the technology.

"Using screen-based technologies, communication and social skills could be taught and reinforced right away," Mazurek said. "However, more research is needed to determine whether the skills children with ASD might learn in virtual reality environments would translate into actual social interactions."

The study, "Television, Video Game and Social Media Use among Children with ASD and Typically Developing Siblings," will be published in an upcoming issue of theJournal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. "Video Game Use and Problem Behaviors in Boys with Autism Spectrum Disorders," was published in Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders. Mazurek also authored an article forThe Scientist Magazine about the benefits and possible negative consequences of using screen-based technologies in interventions for children with autism.

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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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Why are Americans Having Trouble Sleeping?

Why are 70 million Americans having trouble getting a good night's sleep? Let us count the ways:

We are over-caffeinated (coffee, soft drinks, energy drinks, snacks) and over-medicated (prescription and over-the-counter drugs, including alcohol), wreaking havoc with slumber patterns.

We are over-wired (video games, Web browsing, social media, texting) and overstressed (money, work, relationships, overloaded schedules), making us too restless to doze off when we should.

We are overworked (longer hours, night shifts incompatible with our biological clocks) and overweight (perhaps a chicken-or-egg deal, as different studies have found that one leads to the other).

And then there's societal pressure, what nationally recognized sleep expert Dr. Mark Mahowald calls "the pervasive, erroneous attitude that sleep is not a biological imperative, that it is negotiable. We have raised sleep deprivation to a badge of honor."

The effects might outnumber the causes, and are hardly as benign as many of us might think. "Any degree of sleep deprivation will impair performance: behind the wheel, in the classroom or workplace," Mahowald said.

He added that the Bhopal, Challenger, Exxon Valdez and Three Mile Island disasters "all are officially attributed to problems from sleep deprivation. But the biggest risk of sleep deprivation is car crashes, period."

No wonder the number of accredited sleep centers has risen nationwide by 630 percent in just 15 years. And while sleep study results have been all over the map and sometimes contradictory, experts such as local doctors Mahowald and Michael Schmitz know a lot more than researchers did even a decade ago.

The lowdown

• Insomnia victims have trouble falling or staying asleep in a setting with adequate conditions for sleep; this becomes chronic insomniaif it lasts more than three weeks. Sleep deprivation is caused by behavioral or situational factors that curtail or mitigate the ability to get enough sleep time.

• Most adults need seven to nine hours of sleep a night. The amount a person needs is genetically determined, Mahowald said. "Some people might need four hours on the short end, up to 10 on the high end. We have absolutely no control over this."

• Anyone who uses an alarm clock "is by definition sleep-deprived," Mahowald said, "because if the brain had received the amount of sleep it wanted, you would have woken up before the alarm went off."

• Melatonin is a hormone, secreted daily by the brain's pineal gland, that helps maintain the body's sleeping cycle. A nonprescription synthetic melatonin pill is sold in the United States and is widely used. The FDA does not test or regulate melatonin because it doesn't consider it a drug.

• Larks and owls: "Some people are early to bed, early to rise; others late to bed, late to rise. We have very little control over that," Mahowald said. "So you see a lot of problems when an owl marries a lark and each one thinks the other is being stubborn."

EFFECTS

• With sleep deprivation, some glucose metabolism problems might predispose one to diabetes. And if so, a consequence could be heart disease and stroke.

• With insomnia, there is no evidence of long-term physical problems or links to other diseases. But insomnia results in poorer quality of life and work absences and can lead to depression.

• There is some evidence that severe sleep apnea can lead to hypertension, heart problems and a higher risk of strokes.

SOLUTIONS

• Improving sleep hygiene -- avoiding late eating and drinking, keeping the room cool and dark, winding down before bedtime -- can improve or resolve transient or acute insomnia but probably not chronic insomnia.

• For chronic insomnia, cognitive behavioral therapy is equally as or more effective than medications. Medication often is useful for acute insomnia.

• Naps can help -- except when they don't. "We discourage napping when anyone has problems falling or staying asleep at night, which might be an untreated sleep disorder," said behavioral sleep specialist Schmitz. "We encourage power naps, 30 minutes or less, when folks can't stay awake or will have late-night events."

• See your doctor if: You have had difficulty falling and staying asleep for more than a week. Or if you snore, have frequent awakenings and are reporting sleepiness during the day. Anyone with apnea symptoms should seek treatment.

BY THE NUMBERS

One third of Americans suffer from insomnia at some point in their lives.

14 to 15 hours of sleep a night is recommended by the Mayo Clinic for infants, 12 to 14 hours for toddlers and 10 to 11 for school-age children.

84 classifications of sleep disorders have been found.

2,365 U.S. sleep centers are accredited by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. In 1997, there were 374; in 2006, there were 1,000.

2 million U.S. children suffer from sleep disorders.

18 million Americans probably suffer from sleep apnea, with more than half of them undiagnosed.

$15.9 billion is added to national health care costs by sleep problems, according to the National Commission on Sleep Disorders.

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Teens With Autism Preoccupied With TV, Video Games: Study

When given the opportunity to have screen time, children with autism spectrum disorders typically choose television and video games over social interactive media, such as email, a new study finds .

The preoccupation with video games could interfere with the children's socialization and learning, warned the researchers, whose study appears online in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by problems with social interaction, communication and restricted interests and behaviors. Autism spectrum disorders, or ASDs, include Asperger syndrome, which is a milder form of autism.

In conducting the study, the researchers analyzed information on more than 1,000 teens in special education classes, including those with autism spectrum disorders, learning and intellectual disabilities, and speech problems.

About 60 percent of the teens with autism spectrum disorders spent most of their time watching TV or videos, the investigators found.

"This rate appears to be high, given that among typically developing adolescents, only 28 percent have been shown to be 'high users' of television," Paul Shattuck, an assistant professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, said in a university news release. "Television viewing is clearly a preferred activity for children with ASDs, regardless of symptoms, functional level or family status."

Moreover, 41 percent of the teens with autism spent most of their free time playing video games, the study authors found.

"Given that only 18 percent of youths in the general population are considered to be high users of video games, it seems reasonable to infer based on the current results, that kids with ASDs are at significantly greater risk of high use of this media than are youths without ASDs," Shattuck added.

In contrast, the teens with autism spectrum disorders were less likely to use email or social media.

"We found that 64.4 percent of youth with ASDs did not use email or chat at all," Shattuck said. "Kids with speech and language impairments and learning disabilities were about two times more likely to use email or chat rooms than those with ASDs."

He noted, however, use of social media increased among the teens with autism spectrum disorders as they got older and their cognitive skills improved. Cognitive is a word used to describe brain-based functions such as memory, thinking, learning and processing information.

"This proclivity for screen time might be turned into something we can take advantage of to enhance social skills and learning achievement, especially [with] recent innovations in devices like iPads," Shattuck suggested.

Read more: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_121913.html

Violent Video Games Alter Brain Function in Young Men

A functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) analysis of long-term effects of violent video game play on the brain has found changes in brain regions associated with cognitive function and emotional control in young adult men after one week of game play.

The results of the study were presented November 30 at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

The controversy over whether or not violent video games are potentially harmful to users has raged for many years, making it as far as the Supreme Court in 2010. But there has been little scientific evidence demonstrating that the games have a prolonged negative neurological effect.

"For the first time, we have found that a sample of randomly assigned young adults showed less activation in certain frontal brain regions following a week of playing violent video games at home," said Yang Wang, M.D., assistant research professor in the Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences at Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis. "These brain regions are important for controlling emotion and aggressive behavior."

For the study, 22 healthy adult males, age 18 to 29, with low past exposure to violent video games were randomly assigned to two groups of 11. Members of the first group were instructed to play a shooting video game for 10 hours at home for one week and refrain from playing the following week. The second group did not play a violent video game at all during the two-week period.

Each of the 22 men underwent fMRI at the beginning of the study, with follow-up exams at one and two weeks. During fMRI, the participants completed an emotional interference task, pressing buttons according to the color of visually presented words. Words indicating violent actions were interspersed among nonviolent action words. In addition, the participants completed a cognitive inhibition counting task.

The results showed that after one week of violent game play, the video game group members showed less activation in the left inferior frontal lobe during the emotional task and less activation in the anterior cingulate cortex during the counting task, compared to their baseline results and the results of the control group after one week. After the second week without game play, the changes to the executive regions of the brain were diminished.

"These findings indicate that violent video game play has a long-term effect on brain functioning," Dr. Wang said.

Read more: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111130095251