Thursday, March 8, 2012

Sleep


            Dr. Nancy Maynard, a Pediatrician at the Great Falls Clinic in Great Falls, Montana uses an analogy of children watching television right before going to sleep. She states, "I think of it as going to the state fair. You are on the midway, with all the lights and the noise. Walking away from that, I don't know how many people are relaxed."

            According to the American Academy of Pediatrics 19% of parents of children younger than 1 year said their children have television in their bedrooms. Twenty-nine percent of children two to three years of age have a television in their bedroom, and thirty percent of parents have reported that watching television program enabled their children to fall asleep. Though some parents perceive a televised program to be a calming sleep aid, some programs actually increase bedtime resistance, delay the onset of sleep, cause anxiety about falling asleep, and shorten sleep duration. With children younger than three years, television viewing is related with irregular sleep schedules. Poor sleep habits can have negative effects on mood, behavior, and learning.
           
             Television viewing, among school-aged children and adolescents, has been shown to be associated with poor sleep habits and disturbed sleep. Cross-sectional studies found that television/videotape viewing was associated with late bedtimes and sleep disturbances among school-aged children and adolescents. One longitudinal study demonstrated that high levels of television viewing during adolescence might lead to the development of sleep problems in early adulthood.
            
            The American Academy of Pediatrics found that television viewing among infants and toddlers was associated with an increased risk of having an irregular sleep schedule. This was independent of many other factors that could affect a child’s sleep schedule, such as household and demographic factors, maternal health, and family interactions, as well as parental ability to maintain regular mealtimes.

          These findings are potentially important, because a routinized sleep schedule is a critical component of guaranteeing good sleep. Irregular sleep schedules can lead to inadequate sleep time and sleep problems. Studies among adults have shown that changes in sleep schedules can affect the sleep/wake cycle and lead to inadequate sleep. Irregular sleep schedules can also be a sign of a sleep problem.
           
       Furthermore, inadequate sleep among adults has been linked to impaired immune function, inability to concentrate, memory deficits, and emotional instability. Inadequate sleep and sleep problems among children can have effects on both the child and the parent. Consequences for the child may include problems of mood, behavior, and learning, and poor health outcomes. It is also easy to imagine that a child’s sleep problem could lead to inadequate sleep for the parent, thus putting the parent at risk for, at a minimum, mood imbalances and poor parenting. Adequate, high-quality sleep, promoted by routine sleep schedules, is important to the overall well-being of children and parents.

23 comments:

  1. This is interesting research and it's a shame that everyone who has children is not aware of the consequences of watching TV before sleep. I have read articles before that supports your research and even viewed some of these findings on the news stations but there must be millions of parents who either don't know of this or they don't care or they feel that it doesn't apply to them as your research states of the high persentage of children who have TV's in their rooms. What are these parents thinking. I know of adults who go to bed with the TV on and say it helps them to fall asleep. It does the opposite for me. I need it quiet and through my closed eyelids I can see the lights flashing from the TV when scenes are changing so it does just the opposite for me and keeps me awake. I can't even get comfortable enough in bed to watch TV and would much rather sit in a comfortable chair or couch. I have a grandson who reads with a night light in bed when he can't fall asleep and it helps him to get sleepy. Reading makes me sleepy as well so for my grandson and myself, I think reading is a good alternative to TV watching before bedtime.

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    1. I am the same way. Reading always makes me sleepy. Every time I sit on the couch to read a book I get through a few pages and have to stop because I am about to fall asleep.

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    2. While I agree with much of what was said, it also needs to be recognized that there are individual differences and that is OK... not everyone (self included) gets drowsy reading at bedtime... it actually gets me wound up, much the way some of the research suggests TV watching can do to some...

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    3. That's true about everyone having individual differences. Not everyone gets sleepy by reading and I know people that can fall asleep to the TV. I guess for me to it depends on the book that I am reading. If it's a high intensity book like Hunger Games or Twilight then I will stay awake from the start of the book until the end. Thanks for your comments:)

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  2. Sounds pretty serious... I guess I'll monitor/limit TV at bed times a little more.

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  3. I liked the pediatrician's analogy of what watching TV before going to sleep meant to her (walking away from the state fair etc). I don't think kids should watch TV RIGHT before bed. There should be a regular bedtime routine and a calmness in doing so. Like a bath, brushing teeth, saying prayers, and a bedtime story. Kids (even adults) need to be calm and relaxed so they can drift off to sleep easily. The TV has never worked for me as a sleeping aid. That's not to say I haven't fallen asleep while watching TV, but it's because I was tired and needed to go to bed. When Uncle Bill has gone on travel, I've left the TV on (when we had one in the bedroom) so I wouldn't be as scared, but I could never fall asleep. I would drift off, but awakened with the flash of lights and scene changing etc. I stopped doing it (the TV) and tried the radio, but even that kept me awake. I need total quietness. The only that really works is reading. It's like a sleeping pill. :)

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    1. I have done the same thing when Chris is gone at work late and I try watching television. I try to watch television until he comes home, but then I end up not being able to go sleep afterwards because I spent so much time watching it.

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  4. I agree with this. My kids don't watch T.V. before bed but I love too. However I do notice that it takes me a bit to fall asleep after I watch. My mind continues to think about the show I just watched and sometimes I have to read a little bit or play solitaire for a while before I can doze off to sleep.

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    1. This happened to me to one night. I was watching a few episodes of the show, "Lie to Me" and after I went to bed, I could not stop thinking about it. I must have layed there for hours.. and I kept telling myself that I needed to go to sleep. The more I wanted to sleep the more I stayed awake. Well I learned my lesson:)

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  5. I could watch hours of TV before I go to bed and it wouldn't affect me at all. Once my head hits the pillow, I am out in 2 minutes. The kids usually do not watch any TV at night since there is no time between homework, dinner and showers.

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    1. This is hilarious! I wish my mind worked like yours and I could fall asleep that easily.

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  6. The only tv I can't watch before bed is a sports competition in which I am emotionally invested. My kids don't watch tv before bed.

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    1. Any Lakers game that starts after 9:00pm must be carefully considered especially if it's a playoff or finals game. Staying up late to see them win is always a bet I am willing to make.

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  7. The Lakers are the best (14 rings). The Jazz are horrible (0 rings).

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  8. We don't really have time in our schedule for our kids to watch TV before bed. We have dinner, clean up with the kids, give them a bath, and then it is bed time. The funny thing is, we as parents almost always watch a little TV before we go to bed, but I always think of it as "unwinding" for us. And I usually go to sleep as soon as I try.

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    1. We are the same way with watching television before we go to bed. I have to do other things right before I go to bed though , like having a snack, washing my face, brushing my teeth, etc or I will still think about the TV show as I am going to bed. I guess we all have our bedtime rituals:)

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  9. I agree that television should be limited for children, especially around bed time. I can't imagine why so many people would have a television in kids bed rooms. Seems like a poor idea. I know that as a kid/adolescent, television interrupted many a good night sleep, and that was without having one in the bedroom. I can only imagine how much worse it would have been otherwise.

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    1. I don't understand either why people would have a television in their children's room. It makes no sense.

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  10. It all sounds right to me. But people can adapt to their surroundings. Think of thoses who live next to the railroad tracks or next to a busy freeway. Eventually you just adjust and your body goes where it needs to be. Asleep. Some people sleep through storms and lightning. Even babies crying in the middle of the night. A TV would be next to nothing. But I do get my best sleep when it's quite and cool.

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    1. Yes, some people can adapt to their surroundings but not everyone can. Taylor can fall asleep to a continuous noise like a fan, but if it's a startling noise like a thunder storm then I know that would keep her awake. You said that eventually your body adjusts and will sleep, but how long before that until you actually get to sleep. It won't be a restful sleep and how long can your body live like that.

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