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Late many nights, after our neighborhood has gone dark and most adults are asleep, a silvery glow emanates from beneath two bedroom doors in my house.
This invariably worries me – not because anything weird is going on, but because it means my kids are setting themselves up for yet another tired day. Throughout their teen years, both have entertained themselves by text-messaging their friends or surfing the Web before falling asleep.
Already blamed for problems ranging from obesity to distractibility, tech gear is now being faulted as a cause of sleep loss in teens. In a recent blog, a physician who advises Consumer Reports on medical issues, Orly Avitzur, says as many as one-half of all teens show symptoms of insomnia, and their computers, iPods and cell phones are often to blame.
One study found students with four or more electronic entertainment devices in their bedrooms are twice as likely to fall asleep in school or while studying, Dr. Avitzur says. (Some 97% of U.S. teens have at least one high-tech gadget in their bedrooms.) Fatigue isn’t the only consequence: Otherwise healthy teens who sleep poorly are at much higher risk of developing high blood pressure, a significant health risk. It’s time, Dr. Avitzur writes, for parents “to have a serious sleep talk with our kids.â€
Should parents ban tech gear from the bedroom? I know good sleep hygiene requires keeping bedrooms dark and quiet at bedtime and reserving that space primarily for sleep. I worry that my kids are often tired and I’ve had that “serious sleep talk†with them many times. But I leave the choice to them. My rationalization: They’ve usually been working nonstop all day, finishing homework as late as 10 p.m. I can’t race straight from work to sleep without decelerating – by reading a book for a while, in my case. So I allow them the same freedom.
source
well I can relate to my computer......
This invariably worries me – not because anything weird is going on, but because it means my kids are setting themselves up for yet another tired day. Throughout their teen years, both have entertained themselves by text-messaging their friends or surfing the Web before falling asleep.
Already blamed for problems ranging from obesity to distractibility, tech gear is now being faulted as a cause of sleep loss in teens. In a recent blog, a physician who advises Consumer Reports on medical issues, Orly Avitzur, says as many as one-half of all teens show symptoms of insomnia, and their computers, iPods and cell phones are often to blame.
One study found students with four or more electronic entertainment devices in their bedrooms are twice as likely to fall asleep in school or while studying, Dr. Avitzur says. (Some 97% of U.S. teens have at least one high-tech gadget in their bedrooms.) Fatigue isn’t the only consequence: Otherwise healthy teens who sleep poorly are at much higher risk of developing high blood pressure, a significant health risk. It’s time, Dr. Avitzur writes, for parents “to have a serious sleep talk with our kids.â€
Should parents ban tech gear from the bedroom? I know good sleep hygiene requires keeping bedrooms dark and quiet at bedtime and reserving that space primarily for sleep. I worry that my kids are often tired and I’ve had that “serious sleep talk†with them many times. But I leave the choice to them. My rationalization: They’ve usually been working nonstop all day, finishing homework as late as 10 p.m. I can’t race straight from work to sleep without decelerating – by reading a book for a while, in my case. So I allow them the same freedom.
source
well I can relate to my computer......
