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Prospective associations between pre-sleep electronics use and same-night sleep in healthy school-aged children

Christine J So1, Matthew W Gallagher1, Cara A Palmer2

  • 1Department of Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, Texas.

Children'S Health Care : Journal of the Association for the Care of Children'S Health
|August 9, 2021
PubMed

Insights

Using electronic devices before bed did not affect sleep in healthy children. More research is needed to understand the impact of pre-sleep screen time on pediatric sleep patterns.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Sleep Science
  • Digital Media and Health

Background:

  • Electronic device use is common among children.
  • Concerns exist regarding potential negative impacts on sleep.
  • Limited prospective research available on healthy children.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the association between pre-bedtime electronic device use and sleep patterns in healthy pre-pubertal children.
  • To differentiate effects of specific device types versus total usage.
  • To assess same-night sleep outcomes.

Main Methods:

  • Prospective study involving 55 healthy children aged 7-11 years.
  • Sleep assessed using subjective reports and actigraphy over 5 weeknights.
  • Pre-bed electronic device use recorded via daily diaries.

Main Results:

  • No significant relationship found between total or specific electronic device use within one hour before bed and same-night sleep parameters.
  • Neither subjective nor objective sleep measures were predicted by device usage.

Conclusions:

  • Current findings suggest that pre-bedtime electronic device use may not immediately impact sleep in healthy children.
  • Further investigation is required to fully understand the complex relationship between screen time and pediatric sleep.
  • This study highlights the need for more research in this area.

Keywords:
Sleepactigraphychildrenelectronic media usepediatrics

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