Harvard Pop Center faculty member Steven Gortmaker, PhD, is co-author on a study that has found that teens who spend 5 hours or more per day behind a screen (e.g., tablet, computer, videogame, smartphone, television) face greater exposure to obesity and/or risk factors for obesity such as increased sugar-sweetened beverage consumption, and inadequate physical activity and sleep.
To help kids get more sleep & feel better rested, researchers suggest limiting access to screens (small & big) in bedrooms
Steven Gortmaker, PhD, and Elsie M. Taveras, MD, MPH, have published a study in Pediatrics that found that kids who slept in rooms that had devices with electronic screens (smartphones, TV, etc.) slept for shorter durations and were more likely to report that they received insufficient rest.
More TV viewing (and among racial/ethnic minority children, the presence of a bedroom TV) was associated with shorter sleep from infancy to mid-childhood.
According to a recent study co-authored by Harvard Pop Center-affiliated faculty members Matthew W. Gillman, MD, SM, and Elsie M. Taveras, MD, MPH, more TV viewing (and among racial/ethnic minority children, the presence of a bedroom TV) was associated with shorter sleep from infancy to mid-childhood.