Why Johnny Can't Sleep

If you're watching television to help you fall asleep, prepare for a rude awakening. Having Leno or Letterman in the bedroom can actually keep you from getting the sleep you need. And if your child is watching Pokemon or Batman for the hundredth time at 12 a.m., you need to get up and turn that television off, if not remove it altogether. The tantrum you'll endure is a small price to pay to prevent a sleep situation that can become a parent's nightmare.

So say reports published in the August and September 1999 issues of the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. In the August issue, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommended children younger than age 2 not watch television at all. The AAP statement explained that early brain development research finds parental interaction with babies and toddlers is key. Television may divert or even cut off that contact.

The September article, "Television-viewing Habits and Sleep Disturbance in School Children," took an extensive look at the relation between children's viewing habits and the quality of their sleep, which, the report stated, has rarely been examined in studies of risk factors for sleep problems. The report recommended that health care practitioners should question parents about their children's viewing habits when diagnosing, treating, and screening for health disorders.

Parents of 495 school children in kindergarten through fourth grade provided answers about their children's sleeping habits and their family's television viewing patterns. Teachers from the three schools that the children attended provided information about daytime sleepiness.

Each of the households had an average of 2 television sets. Over three-quarters of the families had cable (76.6%) and almost all (99.8%) owned one VCR or more. 70.1 percent of the children watched television for two hours per weekday and 2 to 3 hours on weekends. Their parents usually limited their own viewing during the week to two hours per day.

Although parents surveyed closely monitored what their children watched on TV and for how long, over one-quarter (26%) of them did report that at least one child had a television set in the bedroom, and interestingly, 67 percent of parents also had television sets in their bedrooms. The study found that having a television set in the bedroom directly affected the child's quality of sleep, although the majority of parents felt that television had a negligible, if any, effect on their children's sleep. Television viewing at bedtime, and overall heavy television viewing, caused children to resist going to bed, to have trouble falling asleep, and to sleep less than the recommended eight hours. TV watching habits, such as falling asleep in front of the television, seemed to cause sleep disturbances in 25 percent of children with behavioral sleep disorders.

The children's sleepiness had an effect on their waking life. Teachers in the three schools surveyed said that percentages of the children had difficulty staying awake in morning classes (9.1%) and afternoon classes (11.4%), and 10.6% of the children complained about their sleep.

"Television may serve to displace sleep time, thus shortening sleep duration to unacceptable limits," stated the report. "The time spent by the child in television viewing may substitute for other less sedentary and/or less passive activities (like playing outside, engaging in sports activities), resulting in poor-quality sleep."

In addition to time spent watching television, the content of programming may have an effect on children's sleep patterns. Those horror movies may not be innocent, scary fun after all. Children tend to have difficulty falling asleep and experience nightmares if they have watched violent or otherwise disturbing programming, especially before bedtime. 8.8 percent of the parents reported that their children had television-induced nightmares on a weekly basis. However, most of them were aware of the potential harm that violent programming could do, and did not allow their children to watch many inappropriate programs.

Regardless of the content of programs, children's sleep is most deeply affected by having a television in the bedroom and using it as a sleep aid. Well-meaning (or tired!) parents may contribute to this problem by using the television as a tranquilizer, a way to avoid bedtime struggles, or a way to help the child fall asleep. As the study clearly shows, this belief indirectly contributes to greater sleep disturbances and increased resistance at bedtime. In addition, although television viewing doesn't directly affect daytime sleepiness in children, it does contribute because of late nights and less physical activity during the day. The report concluded that children's television viewing and increased sleepiness may become more entwined as the child grows older and bring about entrenched sleep habits that are unhealthy but difficult to change.

The National Sleep Foundation's 2000 Omnibus on Sleep in America poll seems to support those recommendations. Members of Generation Y, the 18 to 29 age group, have grown up watching television. As adults, they are more likely (55 percent) to stay up late watching television, which accounts in part for their significant sleepiness during the day, according to NSF findings.

The NSF also made some discoveries of its own concerning children's sleeping habits, five months before the AAP published its report. The 1999 Omnibus on Sleep in America Poll revealed that 60 percent of children under the age of 18 felt tired during the day in 1998, and 15 percent fell asleep at school during the past year. In this survey, parents seemed more concerned about the sleep problem than the parents of the AAP study. 73 percent of parents overall, and 84 percent of parents whose children had admitted to sleeping in school, wanted their children educated as thoroughly about good sleep habits, or sleep hygiene, as they were about good nutrition and physical fitness. There was no mention in the study about the effects of television. But the results, and the AAP study, give parents and teachers ammunition in the fight for children's sleep.

Now, you may not be ready to banish Dave and Jay from your bedroom. But think about this while you're tossing and turning: Your child deserves a healthy sleep. And if you hear noises in your child's bedroom late at night, you may want to change "Lights out" to "TV off!"