These days, teachers often face classrooms filled with yawning students who stayed up late snapping selfies or playing online games.
For children and teens, using cell phones, tablets and computers at night is associated with losing sleep time and sleep quality, new research finds. Even children who don’t use their phones or the other technologies littering their bedrooms at night are losing shut-eye and becoming prone to daylight sleepiness, the analysis published today in JAMA Pediatrics finds.
Dr. Neil Kline, a representative of the American Sleep Association, agrees that sleep plays an integral role in a child's healthy development, even though "we don't know all of the science behind it. There is even some research which demonstrates an association between ADHD and some sleep disorders."
In many respects, the findings of the new study are no surprise. "Sleep hygiene is being significantly impacted by technology, especially in the teen years," said Kline.
Sleep hygiene -- tips that help facilitate good, continuous and adequate sleep -- include having a room that is quiet. "And that would mean removing items that interfere with sleep, including electronics, TV and even pets if they interfere with sleep," Kline said.