Too much TV can disrupt sleep - Yale-New Haven Hospital: HealthLINK: Pediatrics, October 1999

Kicking the (TV) Habit

Though the sleep study done by the Rhode Island team does have its limitations, overall it is a very well thought out study and one that is of great interest to me. For the past two years, I have served on the "Media Matters" committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics, which encourages pediatricians to educate parents about the effects of the media on their children. Parents are under so many pressures these days that it’s easy to not realize the impact television has on children.

For a long time, pediatricians have been preaching that television viewing should be limited, especially for children under age seven, for a host of reasons. Children who watch too much TV aren’t outside riding their bikes or running around. Instead of doing their homework, they are watching television. And now we find, with this new study, that instead of being read to at bedtime, they are falling asleep to the TV.

"...television viewing should be limited, especially for children under age seven, for a host of reasons."

The study does have its limits. One weakness is that the study is retrospective. In other words, instead of parents taking home the study to record TV time as the week went along, they instead filled out what they remembered about how much TV their children had watched. And since most parents want to put on a good face, parents probably under-reported the amount of television watched as well. In addition, because the researchers chose primarily Caucasian, middle class families, these results can’t easily be applied to other populations.

A "wake-up call for parents"
Despite all these limitations, however, the researchers still came up with impressive results. More than 25 percent of the children in the study had a television in their bedroom. Believe it or not, that number is low compared to the 50 percent recorded in other studies of children and TV habits. This study should be a wake-up call to parents who have belittled the impact TV has on their kids. All too often, television is an important tool for busy parents. Too often, parents aren’t monitoring what their kids are watching, or how much they are watching.

"This study should be a wake-up call to parents who have belittled the impact TV has on their kids."

In a recent study of television shows, a full 60 percent contained unpunished violence. In addition, the advertising shown on television has a tremendous impact on children, who recall beer advertising commercials with amazing clarity. We’ve grown so used to this that it’s easy to ignore its effect.

Smart viewing tips
Obviously, television is not going to go away, so what can parents do to improve the situation?

When children watch TV, limit the amount of time they watch. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no television for children aged two and younger, and a maximum of two hours a day for children older than that.
Don't put a television in your child's room. Instead, watch TV as a family so you know what your kids are watching. It's a low-key way to spend time together.
For favorite shows, tape them and then watch them on video. It’s a good way for parents to prescreen shows, control commercials, and, if desired, stop the tape and discuss issues raised by the show’s contents.

For their part, pediatricians need to become more vigilant about children’s TV viewing habits. For starters, pediatricians could remove televisions from their waiting rooms and replace them with books. Though there is very limited time now during office visits, pediatricians could use this study as a jumping off point to talk to parents.

Dr. Germain is a pediatrician on the attending staff of Yale-New Haven Hospital and an assistant clinical professor of pediatrics at Yale University School of Medicine.

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