Preschoolers Sleep Less In Case They Watch Television

More surprising to Spencer, known for her groundbreaking research on the role of napping in children's memory and learning, 36 percent of children ages 3 to 5 had televisions in their bedroom, and a third of those children They slept with the TV on. , often watching stimulating or violent adult programs.

The study, published in Sleep Health, the journal of the National Sleep Foundation, suggests that the use of television by young children affects the quality and duration of sleep, measured for the first time by an actigraphic device that children used as a watch on his wrist. In addition, although it was observed that naps during the day increased among children who watched more television, it did not completely compensate for the sleep lost at night.

"The good news is that this is addressable," says Spencer, referring to the opportunity to educate parents about the surprising new evidence that television does not help young children fall asleep. "The parents assumed that television was helping their children to calm down, but it did not work, those kids were not sleeping well, and it was not helping them fall asleep better, it's good to have this information."

The findings of Spencer and Helm are accompanied by new guidelines from the World Health Organization (WHO), which say that children between 2 and 4 years should not have more than one hour of "sedentary screen time" daily, and less or more No screen time is even better. Similarly, the American Academy of Pediatrics suggests that daily screen time for children ages 2 to 5 be limited to one hour of "high quality programs," and that parents should watch the programs with their children. WHO also emphasized the importance of young children sleeping "better quality" for their long-term health?

According to Spencer, about 54 percent of the children in the UMass Amherst study are not complying with WHO television guidelines on weekdays, and the figure increases to 87 percent on weekends.

In addition to the paucity of data about watching television and sleeping in this age group, the previous research that exists has been based on the sleep measures reported by the parents, and "parents tend to overestimate the duration of sleep," according to the study. "One of the biggest advantages we have in our approach is the use of these actígrafos", that has been found that they provide a reliable measure of sleep, says Spencer.

By: Preeti Narula

Content: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/05/190514110316.htm