Children lose sleep over device habits

CHILDREN as young as three are addicted to their screens, sparking a sleep deprivation crisis that is having a devastating effect on their health.

About 17 per cent of children aged three and under own their own smart device, with the figure jumping to 36 per cent for preschoolers. And they are doing damage. In one case, a five-year-old was referred to a sleep clinic because he was staying up until 10.30pm on his iPhone.

He was falling asleep in school and was reaching for his screen at 6am.

In another case, a sevenyear-old boy was communicating with his parents regularly via his own iPhone, even when they were in the next room.

Chris Seton, paediatric sleep physician at Sydney’s Woolcock Institute of Medical Research, said the number of young children needing treatment for sleep issues was growing.

He said devices affected children’s sleep by delaying bedtime, causing “conditioned arousal”, where the brain is trained not to associate a certain time of day or the bed as a place of sleep while screen lighting stopped the release of melatonin to prepare the body for sleep.

“A lack of sleep in kids means they are more prone to learning issues, obesity, a whole range of mood issues including depression and anxiety and they are at higher risk of suicide, drug addiction and sexual promiscuity in older age,” he said.

He said there was also re- search from the US that showed a narrowing of blood vessels behind the retina in one-year-old children using devices.

Melbourne’s Murdoch Children’s Research Institute paediatrician Harriet Hiscock said Australian children often got less than the recommended amount of sleep.

“Their quality of the sleep is also being impacted by devices and this is perhaps more important than duration,” Dr Hiscock said.

“When devices are in bedrooms, this can be waking up children at night.”

Deputy chairman of the Sleep Health Foundation David Hillman said the increasing use of devices by children and the effect on sleep was an “enormous concern”.

lanai.scarr@news.com.au