TV and Sleep

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  TV and Sleep Robert Seith | CWK Network Producer
 
 
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“Excessive t-v watching is being shown more and more to relate
to sleep disorders.”

–Gary Freed, M.D., Pediatric Sleep Lab,
Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.
  Related Information What Parents Need To Know Resources

According to their mother,
4-year-old Mackenzie and her one and a half year old sister Kira
watch an average amount of television.

“You know 30 minutes here, 15 minutes here, maybe another
15 minutes there,” says their Mother, Trena Cousin.

And she used to think a little bit of television before bedtime
was a good way to calm them down. But she noticed something:“It
doesn’t really help them go to sleep. They kind of zone out
in front of the television and actually we find they stay up a
little bit longer,” she says.

In fact, researchers from Children’s Hospital in Seattle
recently surveyed the parents of 2-thousand children. The more
television a child watched, particularly before bedtime, the harder
it was to get them to sleep, and the shorter they slept. “One
of the theories about how T-V affects sleep is that bright light
is known to decrease the secretion of melatonin in the brain. And
melatonin is a chemical that’s released that actually induces
sleep,” says Gary Freed, M.D., with Children’s Healthcare
of Atlanta.

And he says while kids may be quiet in front of a T-V, it’s
rarely ‘calming’. “It has to be something that’s
pretty stimulating for them to sit there and watch,” says
Dr. Freed, “So then they get all hyped up and then you want
to put them to sleep… it doesn’t work.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics says children under 2-years-old
shouldn’t watch television at all. Children over 2, less
than 2 hours a day.

And no matter how much they watch, it should be off an hour or
more before bedtime. “They really should be sitting with
their child, or sitting on the side of the bed with them and reading
them a story, not putting them in front of the television and leaving
them to their own,” says Dr. Freed.

Mrs. Cousin does just that, “We turn off the television at
least an hour before bedtime always now.”

 
By Larry Eldridge
CWK Network, Inc.

A study performed by researchers at Stanford University found that teenagers
require approximately one to two hours more sleep than 9- and 10-year-olds,
who only require about eight hours of sleep. This goes against the school of
thought that allows older kids to stay up later. Parents may want to be on
the lookout for the following things, which could be caused from sleep deprivation:

  • Difficulty waking in the morning
  • Irritability in the afternoon
  • Falling asleep during the day
  • Oversleeping on the weekend
  • Having difficulty remembering or concentrating
  • Waking up often and having trouble going back to sleep

Sleep deprivation also can lead to extreme moodiness, poor performance
in school and depression. Teens who aren’t getting enough
sleep also have a higher risk of having car accidents because of
falling asleep behind the wheel.
 
By Larry Eldridge
CWK Network, Inc.

As the lives of children seem to be getting busier, their sleeping habits
may be one of the first things impacted. Sleep, though being something that
often gets sacrificed, is actually one of the most important things in a child’s
life. Here are some suggestions about sleep:

  • Sleep is as important as food and air. Quantity and quality are
    very important. Most people need between seven-and-a-half to eight-and-a-half
    hours of uninterrupted sleep. If you want to press the snooze alarm
    in the morning you are not getting the sleep you need. This could
    be due to not enough time in bed, external disturbances or a sleep
    disorder.
  • Keep regular hours. Try to go to bed at the same time and get
    up at the same time every day. Getting up at the same time is most
    important. Getting bright light, like the sun, when you get up will
    also help. Try to go to bed only when you are sleepy. Bright light
    in the morning at a regular time should help you feel sleepy at the
    same time every night.
  • Stay away from stimulants like caffeine. This will help you get
    deep sleep, which is most refreshing. If you take any caffeine, take
    it in the morning. Avoid all stimulants in the evening, including
    chocolate, caffeinated sodas and caffeinated teas. They will delay
    sleep and increase awakenings during the night.
  • Use the bed just for sleeping. Avoid watching television, using
    laptop computers or reading in bed. Bright light from these activities
    and subject matter may inhibit sleep. If it helps to read before
    sleeping, make sure you use a very small wattage bulb to read. A
    15-watt bulb should be enough.
  • Avoid bright light around the house before bed. Using dimmer switches
    in living rooms and bathrooms before bed can be helpful. Dimmer switches
    can be set to maximum brightness for morning routines.
  • Don’t stress if you feel you are not getting enough sleep. It
    will just make matters worse. Know you will sleep eventually.
  • Avoid exercise near bedtime. No exercise at least three hours
    before bed.
  • Don’t go to bed hungry. Have a light snack, but avoid a heavy
    meal before bed.
  • Bedtime routines are helpful for good sleep.
  • Avoid looking at the clock if you wake up in the middle of the
    night. It can cause anxiety.
  • If you can’t get to sleep for over 30 minutes, get out of bed
    and do something boring in dim light till you are sleepy.
  • Keep your bedroom at a comfortable temperature.
  • If you have problems with noise in your environment, you can use
    a white noise generator. A fan will work.
 

National Sleep Foundation
Shuteye
American Sleep Apnea Association

 

Sleeping Pills

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  Sleeping Pills Robert Seith | CWK Network Producer
 
 

“Part of it I think now is there
is so much more pressure in the academic settings. There are kids who
are working tremendous numbers of hours each evening to get their schoolwork
done. I get a sense that many of them worry about how they are doing
academically, and that tends to spill over into difficulties with sleep.”

– Richard Winer, M.D., Psychiatrist,
explaining one reason so many kids have trouble getting to sleep.
  Related Information What Parents Need To Know Resources

No sleep medication
has ever been approved by the FDA for children under 18… and
yet the use of sleeping pills among teenagers has risen 85-percent
in the past four y ears, according to a study by Medco healthy
solutions, a managed care company.

Whether it’s an over-the-counter medication like Nyquil…

Or a prescription drug like Ambien or Sonata…

More and more teens say they often take something to get
to sleep…

“It’s mainly just stress… you want to study
and then you realize you need to sleep because you have a test
the next day and then you just take something,” says Chelsea,
19.

“An Ambien to knock me out,” adds 19-year-old Jessica.

“I’ll take Nyquil or something like that, just to
help me get to sleep easier,” explains Allison, 19.

Why do kids today need help getting to sleep? Experts say there
are several answers…

-Greater academic pressure…

-More stimulation late at night, with cell phones, TV, computer
games, instant messaging…

-More kids with ADHD taking stimulants like Ritalin…

-And an explosion in the use of caffeine drinks…

The result: at bedtime, many kids are looking for help in a pill.

“Our culture is certainly turned more toward a living better
through chemistry approach,” say Psychiatrist Richard Winer,
M.D.

He says the problem is the obvious: Sleeping aids can be habit
forming. “My bias is toward keeping kids away from medication
for sleep if at all possible. Because you don’t want to create
some habits that’ll be even harder to break as time goes
on in adulthood.”

He says for many kids, the solution is routine: Relax for a while,
and then go to bed at the same time every night.

But, for some, the problem is more serious.

“There are a number of kids out there that have honest to goodness
insomnia difficulties,” says Dr. Winer, “They have sleep
disorders that do require treatment.”

 
By Larry Eldridge
CWK Network, Inc.

A study performed by researchers at Stanford University found that teenagers
require approximately one to two hours more sleep than 9- and 10-year-olds,
who only require about eight hours of sleep. This goes against the school
of thought that allows older kids to stay up later. Parents may want to
be on the lookout for the following things, which could be caused from
sleep deprivation:

  • Difficulty waking in the morning
  • Irritability in the afternoon
  • Falling asleep during the day
  • Oversleeping on the weekend
  • Having difficulty remembering or concentrating
  • Waking up often and having trouble going back to sleep

Sleep deprivation also can lead to extreme moodiness, poor performance
in school and depression. Teens who aren’t getting enough sleep
also have a higher risk of having car accidents because of falling
asleep behind the wheel.

 
By Larry Eldridge
CWK Network, Inc.

As the lives of children seem to be getting busier, their sleeping habits
may be one of the first things impacted. Sleep, though being something
that often gets sacrificed, is actually one of the most important things
in a child’s life. Experts say taking sleep medications unauthorized
by the FDA for teenage consumption is not the answer, however. Here are
some suggestions about sleep:

  • Sleep is as important as food and air. Quantity and quality
    are very important. Most people need between seven-and-a-half
    to eight-and-a-half hours of uninterrupted sleep. If you want
    to press the snooze alarm in the morning you are not getting
    the sleep you need. This could be due to not enough time in bed,
    external disturbances or a sleep disorder.
  • Keep regular hours. Try to go to bed at the same time and
    get up at the same time every day. Getting up at the same time
    is most important. Getting bright light, like the sun, when you
    get up will also help. Try to go to bed only when you are sleepy.
    Bright light in the morning at a regular time should help you
    feel sleepy at the same time every night.
  • Stay away from stimulants like caffeine. This will help you
    get deep sleep, which is most refreshing. If you take any caffeine,
    take it in the morning. Avoid all stimulants in the evening,
    including chocolate, caffeinated sodas and caffeinated teas.
    They will delay sleep and increase awakenings during the night.
  • Use the bed just for sleeping. Avoid watching television,
    using laptop computers or reading in bed. Bright light from these
    activities and subject matter may inhibit sleep. If it helps
    to read before sleeping, make sure you use a very small wattage
    bulb to read. A 15-watt bulb should be enough.
  • Avoid bright light around the house before bed. Using dimmer
    switches in living rooms and bathrooms before bed can be helpful.
    Dimmer switches can be set to maximum brightness for morning
    routines.
  • Don’t stress if you feel you are not getting enough sleep.
    It will just make matters worse. Know you will sleep eventually.
  • Avoid exercise near bedtime. No exercise at least three hours
    before bed.
  • Don’t go to bed hungry. Have a light snack, but avoid a heavy
    meal before bed.
  • Bedtime routines are helpful for good sleep.
  • Avoid looking at the clock if you wake up in the middle of
    the night. It can cause anxiety.
  • If you can’t get to sleep for over 30 minutes, get out of
    bed and do something boring in dim light till you are sleepy.
  • Keep your bedroom at a comfortable temperature.
  • If you have problems with noise in your environment, you can
    use a white noise generator. A fan will work.
 

National Sleep Foundation
Shuteye
American Sleep Apnea Association
 

Teen Sleep Cycles

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  Teen Sleep Cycles Robert Seith | CWK Network
 
 

“As children age, they naturally develop a delay in their onset of sleep, or their sleep phase. It’s part of natural maturation. And kids get to sleep around 10 o’clock or even 11 o’clock into the later teenage years.”

– Jeffrey Durmer, M.D., explaining one reason why teenagers tend to stay up so late at night.
  Related Information What Parents Need To Know Resources

For 17-year-old Bobby Jackson, a typical weekday starts at 6:30, when the alarm rings. Then after a 7-hour school day, there’san afternoon football practice, then an evening workout.

Once he’s home, there’s dinner, homework, a chat with a friend, some time to watch some television, and some time online. “Typically during the week I’m not in bed till 11:30, 12 even later,” he says.

It all adds up to far less than the 9 hours of sleep doctors recommend. “Like 9 hours of sleep is unheard of unless it’s on the weekend,” he says.

He’s not alone, according to a study in the Journal Pediatrics, the average teen sleeps about 7 hours a night. That’s more than 2 hours less than a good night’s sleep, and slightly less than kids slept five years ago. “I stay up till 12 o’clock or 1, and I miss a whole bunch of sleep and I don’t have time to recover from it,” says 17-year-old Jason Brothers.

Experts believe sleep deprivation may contribute to depression and behavior problems, and hinder performance in school.

“What we do know that as you continue to sleep deprive someone, their neurocognitive abilities, their ability to perform tasks, to use their memory, goes down,” says Jeffrey Durmer, M.D. Sleep Specialist, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.

“Well I haven’t been doing as well with my grades as I used to,” says Jason.

“I do sometimes fall asleep in class cause I’m always tired,” Jackson.

Experts say one way to get kids to bed earlier is to avoid the bright lights of television and computer screens close to bedtime… and also help your kids figure out what’s important.

“One realistic thing parents can do is work with their kids to prioritize and limit their activities. And try not to push it all the way into the middle of the night,” says Dr. Durmer.
 
By Larry Eldridge
CWK Network, Inc.

A study performed by researchers at Stanford University found that teenagers require approximately one to two hours more sleep than 9- and 10-year-olds, who only require about eight hours of sleep. This goes against the school of thought that allows older kids to stay up later. Parents may want to be on the lookout for the following things, which could be caused from sleep deprivation:

  • Difficulty waking in the morning
  • Irritability in the afternoon
  • Falling asleep during the day
  • Oversleeping on the weekend
  • Having difficulty remembering or concentrating
  • Waking up often and having trouble going back to sleep

Sleep deprivation also can lead to extreme moodiness, poor performance in school and depression. Teens who aren’t getting enough sleep also have a higher risk of having car accidents because of falling asleep behind the wheel.
 
By Larry Eldridge
CWK Network, Inc.

As the lives of children seem to be getting busier, their sleeping habits may be one of the first things impacted. Sleep, though being something that often gets sacrificed, is actually one of the most important things in a child’s life. Here are some suggestions about sleep:

  • Sleep is as important as food and air. Quantity and quality are very important. Most people need between seven-and-a-half to eight-and-a-half hours of uninterrupted sleep. If you want to press the snooze alarm in the morning you are not getting the sleep you need. This could be due to not enough time in bed, external disturbances or a sleep disorder.
  • Keep regular hours. Try to go to bed at the same time and get up at the same time every day. Getting up at the same time is most important. Getting bright light, like the sun, when you get up will also help. Try to go to bed only when you are sleepy. Bright light in the morning at a regular time should help you feel sleepy at the same time every night.
  • Stay away from stimulants like caffeine. This will help you get deep sleep, which is most refreshing. If you take any caffeine, take it in the morning. Avoid all stimulants in the evening, including chocolate, caffeinated sodas and caffeinated teas. They will delay sleep and increase awakenings during the night.
  • Use the bed just for sleeping. Avoid watching television, using laptop computers or reading in bed. Bright light from these activities and subject matter may inhibit sleep. If it helps to read before sleeping, make sure you use a very small wattage bulb to read. A 15-watt bulb should be enough.
  • Avoid bright light around the house before bed. Using dimmer switches in living rooms and bathrooms before bed can be helpful. Dimmer switches can be set to maximum brightness for morning routines.
  • Don’t stress if you feel you are not getting enough sleep. It will just make matters worse. Know you will sleep eventually.
  • Avoid exercise near bedtime. No exercise at least three hours before bed.
  • Don’t go to bed hungry. Have a light snack, but avoid a heavy meal before bed.
  • Bedtime routines are helpful for good sleep.
  • Avoid looking at the clock if you wake up in the middle of the night. It can cause anxiety.
  • If you can’t get to sleep for over 30 minutes, get out of bed and do something boring in dim light till you are sleepy.
  • Keep your bedroom at a comfortable temperature.

If you have problems with noise in your environment, you can use a white noise generator. A fan will work.
 

National Sleep Foundation
Shuteye
 

Sleep & Creativity

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  1. sleep
   

Education Feature

Sleep & Creativity

By Robert Seith
CWK Senior Producer

 
“This (study) actually shows that sleep itself may be important for being able to flexibly think.”

–

Jeffrey Durmer, Director of Sleep Program at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.

–

17-year-old Darryl Donald studies graphic design. he is also writing a book of poetry.

He’s noticed. often his best thoughts come after a full night’s sleep.

“The more sleep I get the better focused I am, the better my creative juices are rolling. I can concentrate more on what I’m doing,” says Donald.

New research published in the journal ‘Nature’ backs that up.

The study of 66 people found those who had 8 hours of sleep were three times more likely to solve a creative math problem than subjects who were sleep-deprived.

“The study is interesting because it’s making a claim that sleep is required for creative thought,” says Dr. Jeffrey Durmer, the Director of the Sleep Program and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.

Experts say that’s because, while we’re asleep, the mind not only keeps working, but works in a different way: unconnected thoughts and ideas are processed in a free-flowing and unregulated way.

“It puts things together that are usually not associated, and that’s sort of what we call flexible thinking or creative thinking,” says Dr. Durmer.

The result is that a good night’s sleep leads to new ideas the next day.

But many teens, like Darryl, or his classmate, Eve Edmonds. are almost always sleep deprived, getting at most 5 or 6 hours a night.

“I don’t ever get any sleep,” says Edmonds, 17.

Experts say the good news is you can make up for lost sleep. on the weekends for example.

“And so I think one big take home message for parents is that if your child is partially sleep deprived, not getting 8 hours of sleep a night. the weekends are very important. Those are time they need to catch up on their sleep so they can continue to function and not accrue debts in their neuro-cognitive function,” says Dr. Durmer.
 
Other Comparisons

By Larry Eldridge, Jr.
CWK Network, Inc.

A study performed by researchers at Stanford University found that teenagers require approximately one to two hours more sleep than nine- and ten-year-olds, who only require about eight hours of sleep. This goes against the school of thought that allows older kids to stay up later. Parents may want to be on the lookout for the following things, which could be caused from sleep deprivation.

  • Difficulty waking in the morning
  • Irritability in the afternoon
  • Falling asleep during the day
  • Oversleeping on the weekend
  • Having difficulty remembering or concentrating
  • Waking up often and having trouble going back to sleep

Sleep deprivation also can lead to extreme moodiness, poor performance in school and depression. Teens who aren’t getting enough sleep also have a higher risk of having car accidents because of falling asleep behind the wheel.

 

By Larry Eldridge, Jr.
CWK Network, Inc.

As the lives of children seem to be getting busier, their sleeping habits may be one of the first things to be impacted. Sleep, though being something that often gets sacrificed, is actually one of the most important things in a child’s life. Experts have developed some suggestions about sleep:

  • Sleep is as important as food and air. Quantity and quality are very important. Most people need between seven-and-a-half to eight-and-a-half hours of uninterrupted sleep. If you want to press the snooze alarm in the morning you are not getting the sleep you need. This could be due to not enough time in bed, external disturbances or a sleep disorder.
  • Keep regular hours. Try to go to bed at the same time and get up at the same time every day. Getting up at the same time is most important. Getting bright light, like the sun, when you get up will also help. Try to go to bed only when you are sleepy. Bright light in the morning at a regular time should help you feel sleepy at the same time every night.
  • Stay away from stimulants like caffeine. This will help you get deep sleep, which is most refreshing. If you take any caffeine, take it in the morning. Avoid all stimulants in the evening, including chocolate, caffeinated sodas and caffeinated teas. They will delay sleep and increase awakenings during the night.
  • Use the bed just for sleeping. Avoid watching TV, using laptop computers or reading in bed. Bright light from these activities and subject matter may inhibit sleep. If it helps to read before sleeping, make sure you use a very small wattage bulb to read. A 15-watt bulb should be enough.
  • Avoid bright light around the house before bed. Using dimmer switches in living rooms and bathrooms before bed can be helpful. Dimmer switches can be set to maximum brightness for morning routines.
  • Don’t stress if you feel you are not getting enough sleep. It will just make matters worse. Know you will sleep eventually.
  • Avoid exercise near bedtime. No exercise at least three hours before bed.
  • Don’t go to bed hungry. Have a light snack, but avoid a heavy meal before bed.
  • Bedtime routines are helpful for good sleep.
  • Avoid looking at the clock if you wake up in the middle of the night. It can cause anxiety.
  • If you can’t get to sleep for over 30 minutes, get out of bed and do something boring in dim light till you are sleepy.
  • Keep your bedroom at a comfortable temperature.
  • If you have problems with noise in your environment, you can use a white noise generator. A fan will work.
 

National Sleep Foundation
Shuteye
American Sleep Apnea Association