The Need for Critical Evaluation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation aired an investigative documentary (later withdrawn) discussing the side-effects of statins. They reported an"increased risk of 50 percent" for diabetes, which would more accurately be described as a change from two people out of 200 with diabetes to three people out of 200. Researchers estimate an extra 28,000 Australians stopped taking these cholesterol-lowering meds after the documentary aired.…
Read MoreTV Before Bedtime Impacts Kids’ Sleep
Preschoolers who watch television, play with computers or play video games after 7:00 PM report more sleep issues such as repeated awakenings, nightmares and daytime tiredness. Watching violent content at any time was also associated with sleep problems. Having a TV in the child's room increased viewing of violent content. Nonviolent daytime viewing did not increase…
Read MoreLimit Kids Media for Their Good
The report from the Kaiser Family Foundation on media and sleep concludes their review with this statement:William Dement, a professor at Stanford University and a leading sleep researcher has written, “…my most significant finding is that ignorance is the worst sleep disorder of all.” This review of the literature on sleep and media use among…
Read MoreEarly Childhood Sleep Deprivation May Lead to ADHD
The report from the Kaiser Family Foundation goes on to discuss other issues related to the media and sleep:“Sleep problems in middle childhood tend to be persistent. This fact raises the question as to what, if any, are the long-term effects of media use on children’s sleep. It may be, for example, that there is…
Read MoreThe Media and Sleep
The report from the Kaiser Family Foundation goes on to discuss possible nightmares and new forms of media.Media use and nightmares: Research has shown that many children may experience nightmares resulting from something they viewed on TV or in an electronic game, and most children have young children who view to this kind of media…
Read MoreThe Media and Sleep
The report from the Kaiser Family Foundation featured in the last post also discusses active versus passive television viewing. Here is what they said in this report:
Read MoreThe Media and Sleep
From a report by the Kaiser Family Foundation we learn that recent research among adolescents regarding sleep has found results similar to those for younger children.
Read MoreThe Media and Sleep
Research describing concern about media use and sleep in children dates at least to the 1970’s.A report from the Kaiser Family Foundation says:“a 1981 study of middle-class children in Indiana found an association between TV viewing and both shorter daytime naps and shorter nighttime sleep among toddlers. Such results have been replicated subsequently and seem…
Read MoreThe Media and Sleep
The average number of hours that children over age five spend watching television has only changed a little in the past generation. However, among very young children, television and video/DVD viewing has increased dramatically.A report from the Kaiser Family Foundation reports:
Read MoreThe Media and Sleep
A report from the Kaiser Family Foundation tells us:There is good reason to believe that different media formats (e.g. television viewing, Internet use, cell phone use, electronic game-playing) have different kinds of effects on sleep.Different types of content within these media formats presumably also have different effects—indeed it is possible that certain media content in…
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