Post-bedtime use of electronics puts kids at risk

Staying up late to play video games, surf the Internet and send phone text messages may lead to learning problems, mood swings, anxiety and depression in children, a pilot study suggests.

The research, conducted at the Sleep Disorders Center at JFK Medical Center in Edison, N.J., found that children who sneaked time on their cell phones, computers and other electronic devices after supposedly going to sleep had a greater chance of sleep disorders that cause other difficulties.

"These activities are not sleep-promoting, like reading a novel or listening to music. They stimulate the brain and depress normal sleep cycles," said study author Dr. Peter G. Polos. His team was to present the findings Monday at the American College of Chest Physicians annual meeting in Vancouver.

The study was based on a survey of 40 boys and girls with an average age of 14. The researchers focused on their activities after they had gone into the bedroom for the night and were supposed to be sleeping.

Participants reported an average of 34 texts a night after bedtime, and an average of 3,400 nighttime texts a month. These texts occurred from 10 minutes to four hours after going to bed. The average participant was awakened once a night by a text.

Girls were more "text-happy," while boys were more likely to stay awake playing video games, said Polos, a physician at the hospital and a clinical instructor at its Sleep Disorders Center. All of the participants had gone to the center for help with sleep problems.

The research found correlations between late-night electronic media use and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, mood swings, anxiety, depression and poor cognitive function during the day.

About half of the parents of study participants didn't know what the kids were up to, Polos said. The other parents said they knew, but "they thought, 'This is the world we live in, what can you do?' " Polos said. But parents need to monitor electronic media use, he said, because "at the end of the day, the parent is still the parent, the child is still the child."

Polos said doctors need to start asking children and teens routinely about nighttime media use and talk to the child, along with the parents, about the negative consequences of poor sleep.

Calling America a "sleep-deprived culture," Polos noted that teens get little enough sleep "with sports, homework and getting up early for school."

Another reason parents need to monitor media use is to know what is going on in their children's lives, said Richard Gallagher of the Parenting Institute at the Child Study Center at NYU Langone Medical Center. He noted that the effect of media can be good for some children who get more social contact as a result. But parents also need to be aware that electronic messages sent back and forth "aren't necessarily friendly, or about things they want their kids to constantly think about," he said.