Kids getting cheated on sleep
Children in the U.S. are not getting as much sleep as they may need and television and caffeine may frequently be to blame, a new poll has found.
The 1,400-parent survey, conducted by the National Sleep Foundation and released last week, found that sleep deprivation begins in infancy. Children age 3 months to 11 months are sleeping only 12.7 hours a day on average, although the foundation says they need 14 to 15 hours. Toddlers age 1 to 3 are sleeping 11.7 hours, although they may need 12 to 14 hours. Preschoolers up to age 5 are sleeping 10.4 hours a night on average, although they are supposed to get 11 to 13 hours. And children up to age 10 are getting 9.5 hours of sleep, although they may need 10 or even 11 hours a night.
The poll of children’s sleeping habits, believed to be among the few conducted, appears to confirm what had been suspected about the effects of caffeine and television on children, said Dr. Ronald Chervin, a neurologist and sleep-disorder specialist at the University of Michigan.
“The bedroom should ideally be a place to sleep,” said Chervin, adding that any television-watching should be done in a family setting. “The TV is very activating in itself, with a broad light, and that’s not even talking about the content.”
According to the survey, conducted last fall, 43% of school-age children have TV sets in their bedrooms, as do a third of those age 3 to 5. About 20% of infants and toddlers had their own sets. Those children with televisions in the bedroom went to sleep 20 minutes later on average than children without televisions and slept 9.2 hours a night compared with 9.6 hours a night, which amounted to a loss of more than two hours of sleep a week, the foundation said.
Meanwhile, 26% of parents said their children age 3 and older were drinking at least one caffeinated beverage, such as soda or ice tea, that the foundation says could be keeping them up later at night. Those children slept one-half hour less per night than their counterparts who drank no caffeinated beverages.
Chervin also noted that the poll showed other alarming results, revealing that slightly more than half of the children’s doctors had never asked the parents about their children’s sleeping habits, although 69% of parents reported sleep-related problems in their children.
About 10% of the parents interviewed, for example, said their children frequently snored, which can indicate respiratory infection, a stuffy nose or allergy, or be a symptom of sleep apnea. About 1% to 3% of children suffer from breathing problems during sleep, the foundation said.
