Television-viewing habits and sleep disturbance in school children

Objective. To investigate the relationship between specific television-view ing habits and both sleep habits and sleep disturbances in school children. Methods. The parents of 495 children in grades kindergarten through fourth grade in three public elementary schools completed two retrospective survey questionnaires, one assessing their children's sleep behaviors and the oth er examining television-viewing habits of both the child and the family. Sl eep domains assessed included bedtime resistance, sleep onset delay, sleep duration, anxiety around sleep, parasomnias, night wakings, and daytime sle epiness. Teachers from all three schools also completed daytime sleepiness questionnaires (N = 402) for the sample. Results. Most of the television-viewing practices examined in this study we re associated with at least one type of sleep disturbance. Despite overall close monitoring of television-viewing habits, one quarter of the parents r eported the presence of a television set in the child's bedroom. The televi sion-viewing habits associated most significantly with sleep disturbance we re increased daily television viewing amounts and increased television view ing at bedtime, especially in the context of having a television set in the child's bedroom. The sleep domains that appeared to be affected most consi stently by television were bedtime resistance, sleep onset delay, and anxie ty around sleep, followed by shortened sleep duration. The parent's thresho ld for defining "problem sleep behavior" in their child was also important in determining the significance of the association between sleep disturbanc e and television-viewing habits. Conclusion. Health care practitioners should be aware of the potential nega tive impact of television viewing at bedtime. Parents should be questioned about their children's television-viewing habits as part of general screeni ng for sleep disturbances and as part of anticipatory guidance in regards t o healthy sleep habits in children. In particular, the presence of a televi sion set in the child's bedroom may be a relatively underrecognized, but im portant, contributor to sleep problems in school children.