Touchscreen-using toddlers may sleep less

Conclusion This survey aimed to assess whether touchscreen use in infants and toddlers aged between 6 and 36 months has an impact on the quality of their sleep. Sleep is very important for young children as it has a role in development, and if environmental influences are identified that reduce the quality of sleep, they should be limited. This UK study has strengths in its good sample size and its attempts to control for the effects of other confounding variables – however, these weren't all explicitly listed. While a link between levels of touchscreen use and daily sleep was found, this cross-sectional study is not able to prove causation. We don't know that one thing has directly and independently caused the other and there may be many other unmeasured environmental factors involved. Also, as highlighted above, parents may not have had full knowledge of their child's sleep quality or measured use of media devices accurately. Another point worth noting is that parents chose to take part in this study. There may be differences between the households of those who did and did not respond to advertisements to take part, and the children in this study may not be representative of all children. There was also no assessment of the effect reduced sleep might have on developmental milestones, despite having asked about this. This would be an area for further research. Despite limitations of this study, it is well known that sleep is important for young children as it has a role in...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Pregnancy/child Source Type: news