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Using phones and tablets before bed stops kids from sleeping and can lead to health issues
United Kingdom Created: 6 Mar 2017
Streaming instead of dreaming: Using phones and tablets before bed stops kids from sleeping and can lead to health issues.

- Children aged six to 13 need around nine to 11 hours of sleep a night
- Phone use affects sleep quantity and quality, and makes them more tired
- Poor sleep can lead to short and long term health consequences including obesity, reduced immunity and poor mental health

With the average age to receive your first mobile phone now just 10, portable media devices are becoming more and more present in children's lives.

But having a mobile phone by a child's bed may have detrimental effects.

A new study suggests that bedtime phone use is causing children to sleep less and be excessively tired the next day, which could have serious repercussions to their health.
The studies consistently showed an association between bedtime media device use and shorter sleeps, poor sleep quality and excessive daytime sleepiness.

In contrast with this, children who had access to, but didn't use media devices at night, were found to have much better sleep quality.

Dr Carter said: 'Parents need empowerment from healthcare workers, teachers and policy workers in an integrated approach to tackle this problem.

'As a community we should be removing devices 90 minutes prior to bedtime.'

A study published in May found that around two thirds (65%) of children experience difficulty falling asleep or suffer from sleep problems such as sleep talking or walking, which can further diminish sleep quality.

Four out of 10 have a TV or tablet in their bedroom and almost a quarter (23%) of children do not have a bedtime story, said the study.

Last month, one company launched a Back-To-School Sleep Calculator to help determine the best bed time for their children by entering their age and the the typical times they go to bed and wake up.

Please read the whole article at link:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3882746/Streaming-instead-dreaming-Using-phones-bed-stops-kids-sleeping-lead-health-issues.html
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Source: MailOnline, Agnes Ingvarsdottir, 05 Mar 2017

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