Prospective associations between pre-sleep electronics use and same-night sleep in healthy school-aged children

Screen Use at Bedtime and Sleep Duration and Quality Among Youths

Importance

Although questionnaire-based cross-sectional research suggests that screen time before bed correlates with poor sleep, self-reported data seem unlikely to capture the complexity of modern screen use, requiring objective night-by-night measures to advance this field.

Objective

To examine whether evening screen time is associated with sleep duration and quality that night in youths.

Design, Setting, and Participants

This repeated-measures cohort study was performed from March to December 2021 in participant homes in Dunedin, New Zealand. Participants included healthy youths aged 11 to 14.9 years. Data were analyzed from October to November 2023.

Exposure

Objectively measured screen time, captured using wearable or stationary video cameras from 2 hours before bedtime until the first time the youth attempted sleep (shut-eye time) over 4 nonconsecutive nights. Video data were coded using a reliable protocol (κ = 0.92) to quantify device (8 options [eg, smartphone]) and activity (10 options [eg, social media]) type.

Main Outcomes and Measures

Sleep duration and quality were measured objectively via wrist-worn accelerometers. The association of screen use with sleep measures was analyzed on a night-by-night basis using mixed-effects regression models including participant as a random effect and adjusted for weekends.

Results

Of the 79 participants (47 [59.5%] male; mean [SD] age, 12.9 [1.1] years), all but 1 had screen time before bed. Screen use in the 2 hours before bed had no association with most measures of sleep health that night (eg, mean difference in total sleep time, 0 minutes [95% CI, -3 to 20 minutes] for every 10 minutes more total screen time). All types of screen time were associated with delayed sleep onset but particularly interactive screen use (mean difference, 10 minutes; 95% CI, 4 to 16 minutes for every additional 10 minutes of interactive screen time). Every 10 minutes of additional screen time in bed was associated with shorter total sleep time (mean difference, -3 minutes; 95% CI, -6 to -1 minute). The mean difference in total sleep time was -9 minutes (95% CI, -16 to -2 minutes) for every 10 minutes of interactive screen use and -4 minutes (95% CI, -7 to 0 minutes) for passive screen use. In particular, gaming (mean difference, -17 minutes; 95% CI, -28 to -7 minutes for every 10 minutes of gaming) and multitasking (mean difference, -35 minutes; 95% CI, -67 to -4 minutes on nights with vs without multitasking) were associated with less total sleep time.

Conclusions and Relevance

In this repeated-measures cohort study, use of an objective method showed that screen time once in bed was associated with impairment of sleep, especially when screen time was interactive or involved multitasking. These findings suggest that current sleep hygiene recommendations to restrict all screen time before bed seem neither achievable nor appropriate.

Exposure to Smartphones and Tablets, Physical Activity and Sleep in Children From 5 to 10 Years Old: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

OBJECTIVE

To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to verify the association between smartphone/tablet exposure and physical activity and sleep in children from 5 to 10 years old. Data Source: This study followed the guidelines of PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) and included studies that met eligibility criteria based on the "PECO" strategy: participants (children from 5 to 10 years old), exposure (smartphone and tablet use), and outcome (physical activity and sleep).

STUDY INCLUSION AND EXCLUSION CRITERIA

The inclusion criteria were observational studies published in indexed scientific journals and written in Portuguese, English, and Spanish that verified the association of exposure to smartphones/tablets with physical activity and sleep in children aged 5 to 10 years of both sexes. Studies were considered eligible only if they met the previous criteria. Data Extraction: The search was conducted in January 2023 on databases from electronic journals without the restriction of the period. To meta-analyze were extracted and grouped using models of fixed and random effects, the coefficients Odds Ratio (OR), Beta (β), Standard Error (SE), and Confidence Intervals of 95% (95%CI). Data Synthesis: 2396 potentially relevant papers were identified, and 17 met the inclusion criteria.

RESULTS

It can be verified that there was an inverse association between smartphones with physical activity and sleep. Studies indicate that for every additional hour of smartphone and tablet use, sleep can be expected to decrease by an average of 11 minutes (β = - 0.11; 95%CI = -0.13; -0.09). Children using smartphones and tablets were 1.79 times (OR = 1.79; 95%CI = 1.72-1.86) more likely to have shorter sleep duration and 1.53 times (OR = 1.53; 95%CI = 1.41-1.65) more likely to have worse sleep quality. Children with shorter smartphone and tablet usage were 1.19 times more likely to be active (OR = 1.19; 95% CI = 1.03-1.37).

CONCLUSION

Children of 5 to 10 years who are more often exposed to smartphones and tablets are prone to have worse quality and quantity of sleep, as well as less practice of physical activity. Health promotion actions can be encouraged based on the results, aiming to reduce the use time of these devices and improve children's health and quality of life.

The Effect of Prebedtime Behaviors on Sleep Duration and Quality in Children: Protocol for a Randomized Crossover Trial

BACKGROUND

It is recommended that children should avoid eating dinner, being physically active, or using screens in the hour before bed to ensure good sleep health. However, the evidence base behind these guidelines is weak and limited to cross-sectional studies using questionnaires.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this randomized crossover trial was to use objective measures to experimentally determine whether recommendations to improve sleep by banning electronic media, physical activity, or food intake in the hour before bed, impact sleep quantity and quality in the youth.

METHODS

After a baseline week to assess usual behavior, 72 children (10-14.9 years old) will be randomized to four conditions, which are (1) avoid all 3 behaviors, (2) use screens for at least 30 minutes, (3) be physically active for at least 30 minutes, and (4) eat a large meal, during the hour before bed on days 5 to 7 of weeks 2 to 5. Families can choose which days of the week they undertake the intervention, but they must be the same days for each intervention week. Guidance on how to undertake each intervention will be provided. Interventions will only be undertaken during the school term to avoid known changes in sleep during school holidays. Intervention adherence and shuteye latency (time from getting into bed until attempting sleep) will be measured by wearable and stationary PatrolEyes video cameras (StuntCams). Sleep (total sleep time, sleep onset, and wake after sleep onset) will be measured using actigraphy (baseline, days 5 to 7 of each intervention week). Mixed effects regression models with a random effect for participants will be used to estimate mean differences (95% CI) for conditions 2 to 4 compared with condition 1.

RESULTS

Recruitment started in March 2024, and is anticipated to finish in April 2025. Following data analysis, we expect that results will be available later in 2026.

CONCLUSIONS

Using objective measures, we will be able to establish if causal relationships exist between prebedtime behaviors and sleep in children. Such information is critical to ensure appropriate and achievable sleep guidelines.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12624000206527; https://tinyurl.com/3kcjmfnj.

INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID)

DERR1-10.2196/63692.

Mobile phone use, sleep disorders and obesity in a social exclusion zone

INTRODUCTION

There is little information on the impact of mobile phone overuse (MPO) in areas in need of social transformation (ANST). Our objective was to estimate the prevalence of MPO in an ANST and its association with sleep disorders, academic performance and obesity.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Consecutive sampling of patients aged 10-17 years who visited a primary care centre in an ARST between October 2019 and March 2020. The study involved performance of a clinical interview with collection of anthropometric, sociodemographic, mobile phone use and sleep data.

RESULTS

The analysis included 214 participants. The prevalence of MPO during weekdays (more than 2 h a day) was 37.5% in children aged 10-12 years and 65.2% in 13- to 17-year-olds; in the weekend, the prevalence increased to 66.6% and 81.3%, respectively. In weekdays, MPO was associated with an increased prevalence of obesity, lower maternal educational attainment, greater difficulty waking up, daytime sleepiness and higher frequency of school failure. The adjusted risk was double for excess weight (odds ratio [OR] 1.90, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 1.04-3.47), obesity (OR 2.45, 95% CI 1.23-4.89) and sleep disorders or sleep duration of less than 7 h (OR 2.26; 95% CI 1.31-3.92). Weekend MPO was associated with sleep disorders or sleep duration of less than 7 h (OR 2.68; 95% CI 1.40-5.11).

CONCLUSIONS

The prevalence of mobile phone overuse is high in areas of social exclusion and is associated with sleep disorders, school failure and obesity.