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Updated: May 1, 2026

Measuring Neural Mechanisms Underlying Sleep-Dependent Memory Consolidation During Naps in Early Childhood
Published on: October 2, 2019
Television viewing, bedroom television, and sleep duration from infancy to mid-childhood
Elizabeth M Cespedes1, Matthew W Gillman2, Ken Kleinman3
1Obesity Prevention Program, Department of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, Boston, Massachusetts; Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts; emc611@mail.harvard.edu.
Background:
Television and insufficient sleep are associated with poor mental and physical health. This study assessed associations of TV viewing and bedroom TV with sleep duration from infancy to midchildhood.
Method:
We studied 1864 children in Project Viva. Parents reported children's average daily TV viewing and sleep (at 6 months and annually from 1-7 years) and the presence of a bedroom TV (annually 4-7 years). We used mixed effects models to assess associations of TV exposures with contemporaneous sleep, adjusting for child age, gender, race/ethnicity, maternal education, and income.
Results:
Six hundred forty-three children (35%) were racial/ethnic minorities; 37% of households had incomes ≤$70 000. From 6 months to 7 years, mean (SD) sleep duration decreased from 12.2 (2.0) hours to 9.8 (0.9) hours per day; TV viewing increased from 0.9 (1.2) hours to 1.6 (1.0) hours per day. At 4 years, 17% had a bedroom TV, rising to 23% at 7 years. Each 1 hour per day increase in lifetime TV viewing was associated with 7 minutes per day (95% confidence interval [CI]: 4 to 10) shorter sleep. The association of bedroom TV varied by race/ethnicity; bedroom TV was associated with 31 minutes per day shorter sleep (95% CI: 16 to 45) among racial/ethnic minority children, but not among white, non-Hispanic children (8 fewer minutes per day [95% CI: -19 to 2]).
Conclusions:
More TV viewing, and, among racial/ethnic minority children, the presence of a bedroom TV, were associated with shorter sleep from infancy to midchildhood.
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