Using electronic media before sleep affects sleep time

A recent article by Nakamori Suganuma and colleagues at Osaka University published in Sleep and Biological Rhythms (2007, Volume 5, pgs. 204-214) found that teens and adults who used media more before going to sleep slept less than those who used less media. Strikingly, over half of those who used media 3.5 hours or more before going to bed reported that they did not sleep enough due to their media use. In addition, the younger subjects in the study reported that media was more a factor in their lack of sleep than the older subjects. The most commonly reported medium used prior to going to bed was accessing the Internet (38%) followed by watching television (25%) indicating that these two activities may be causal factors in sleep deprivation.

This study is particularly important given the large amount of media consumed by children and adolescents. According to recent studies by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 12- to 17-year-olds consume 45 hours of media per week. Given that most Net Generation members multitask, this actually equates to more than 8 1/2 hours of daily media consumption! Add to these statistics the fact that my research shows that the most common time for adolescents to access MySpace is 5 PM to midnight, plus the result that children with computers in their bedrooms use them 50% more than those with computers in common areas, and you have a picture of a sleep-deprived teenager, multitasking away in the bedroom late into the evening.

My most recent studies ascribe a large portion of the "blame" for this excessive media consumption to parenting styles. Parents who use an "authoritative" parenting style -- setting limits and boundaries in a warm, caring manner while accepting input from their children -- have children who do not overuse or abuse media. Sadly, the research also indicates that only one-third of parents adopt this parenting style with the remaining being authoritarian (setting rules without input from the children in a strict manner), indulgent (allowing media use with few limits or rules), or neglectful (ignoring their children's media use).

The clear message from these studies is that parents must pay attention to their children's media use and set clear limits and guidelines to keep their children from using excessive media leading to sleep deprivation. This does not mean that parents need to pull the plug on the Internet, Wii, cell phone, television, or other media. It does mean that parents cannot assume that their children can monitor their own media use. They need to be proactive and help their children keep a balance between "screen time" and other activities.