Sleep in School Due to Electronic Media - Essay Example

Sleep In School Due To Electronic Media Name Institution Tutor Date Introduction Electronic media in the recent years has been considered to have significant negative effects on the sleep of adolescents and children. Recent studies have investigated the relationship between sleep and electronic media in the school-aged children and the adolescents including viewing of the television, music, and mobile phones. Many variables have been identified to cause the delayed sleep in children and adolescent. Delayed bedtime and shorter sleep time have been identified to be most consistent in the use of media. Model of mechanisms which the media uses to affect sleep has been discussed and presented as a vehicle for more research in the future. This paper seeks to explore how media use causes delayed sleep in school-aged children and the adolescents and how it leads to delayed sleep phase disorder. Wyatt (2004) suggests that, Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome (DSPD) is circadian sleep rhythm disorder. This is the delay in the phase of major sleeping periods in relation to different desired sleep time and wake time. There is recurrent or chronic complaint of the inability to fall asleep at the desired bedtime alongside the inability to awake at socially and desired acceptable time. It is more common in school-aged children and the adolescents aged between ages 7-16 years.  In order to better understand wakefulness and sleep, it is important to view the basics of the homeostatic process of sleep and circadian rhythm of sleep. The homeostatic process of sleep regulates the depth and length of sleep. As an individual is awake longer, his or her pressure to sleep increases. Apparently, the closer an individual is to having slept, the less pressure he or she has to sleep. The circadian rhythm of sleep is an oscillator that varies between the increased propensity to fall asleep or to be awake throughout the 24-hour period. The circadian troughs always occur in the mid and late afternoon and towards the morning hours. The two alertness periods are in the mid-morning and the late evening with a maximum alertness period in the evening (Cami, 2014). According to Cain and Gradisar (2010), during adolescence, there is significant and predictable delay in a circadian alerting system where the normal evening alertness always occurs later. The delay in bedtime preference follows pubertal development. Since girls enter puberty earlier than boys, their delay in bed time is experienced at an early age compared to boys. Additionally, delayed phase syndrome may occur due to the use of different media by the school-aged children and the adolescents. The adolescents are less sensitive to pressure to sleep that increases their ability to be awake up to late in the night. Their ability to be awake combined with the increased activities in the evening and increased use of computers, television and handled electronic devices at night attributes to the increased difficulty in sleeping and later bedtime. There are several media devices that are used by the school-aged children and the adolescents. Over 1000 children aged 10-13 years in Australia completed a multimedia recall diary activity for twenty-four hours on four occasions (Amy and Hawley 2013). The children reported that a median of twenty-seven percent of their working hours was spent on using different electronic media. During school days, the children used an average of three hours and ten minutes per day using electronic media. During non-school days, they use an average of four hours and twenty minutes per day. Of the media used by the school-aged children and the adolescents, television constituted seventy-three percent of all the screen time. Video games constituted nineteen percent; noncomputer game use constituted six percent while cinema constituted two percent. The study found out that a 10 minutes sleep followed every hour of the screen time in a night. This may seem to be negligible. However, the impact may have a greater significance after much time of screening (Cain and Gradisar, 2010) Another study conducted found an association between the electronic screen time such as television, internet, computer and video games and less sleep among 10-17 years old in Australia. Among one hundred adolescents, those who use electronic media between 9 pm and 6 am obtained less sleep, they take long to fall asleep, drink more of caffeine beverages .they are more likely to fall asleep during class hours. Among these adolescents, sixty-six percent have a television in their bedroom, thirty percent has a computer, and ninety percent have mobile phones. Seventy-nine percent have a mp3 audio player. They spend 1-2 hours after 9 pm using electronic media (Amy and Hawley 2013). There are also a number of reports suggesting gender differences in the use of media by the adolescents. Boys are likely to use different video games as sleeping aid. They have a video games console in their bedrooms. They play video games up to late in the night. They use internet and watch television. They view computers and have more screen time than girls. Girls are most likely to read books, listen to music use cell phones and computers (Crowley et al. 2007). Socioeconomic status (SES) associations and decreased use of media have been identified. Children from the higher socioeconomic background are less likely to use computers and television as a sleeping aid. They are less likely to have television and computers in their bedrooms. They are less likely to sleep with the television. Moreover, have less overall viewing time. Children from higher SES are associated with good sleep patterns including greater ease of initiating sleep and more sleeping time (Amy and Hawley 2013). Children from the lower economic background will do the contrary to the children from the high socio-economic background. They are likely to fall asleep during class hours due to lack of enough sleep at night. They increasingly use television and computers before they go to bed and have difficulty in waking up in the morning.   According to Crowley et al. (2007), most adolescents and school-aged children have televisions, computers, digital clock, overhead lamp and bedside lamp in their bedrooms. After having their supper, they get to their room and work on their computer. They use their computer while sitting on their bed. They turn off the lights, television and the computer 10:30 pm and 11:30 pm. They are not able to sleep until 1 is. Once they fall asleep, they sleep until 6:45am for them to be at school by 7:00. They find it difficult to wake in the morning. They always take a nap after school from 4pm to 5pm about three times a week. The time of the day then they are always alert is after supper. There are different mechanisms used to explain the relationship between sleep and the use of media by the school-aged children and the adolescents. The first mechanism is the displacement hypothesis. The hypothesis states that the use of media affects sleep by displacing the time that the child or the adolescent would usually spend during sleep. That is, using different media before typical bedtime leads to delayed bedtime. It is argued that the technological activities are likely to displace sleep than other structured activities that has clear start and end. This makes the children and adolescents to be inactive during class hours (Amy and Hawley (2013). Amy and Hawley (2013), suggests the arousal mechanism. Cognitive, physiological and emotional arousal is frequently seen as possible mechanisms that explain the relationship between sleep and the use of media in school-aged children and the adolescents. It is argued that the media with the stimulating content is more likely to result in the heightened arousal that impedes the onset of sleep and shorten the sleep potentially. Specifically among the young children, developmentally adult content may lead to arousal and bedtime resistance, nightmares and prolonged onset of sleep latencies. For instance, among the 297 Australian children aged 5-6 years, the content of the television program was the best predictor of sleeping problems. Just nearly one in ten boys and one in four girls aged between 16-18 years recorded difficulty in sleep after watching different suspenseful TV programs at night. The experiment in this area has often focused on the arousal following the video games. The other mechanism is sleep interruption. The adolescents usually use media before bedtime. This often influences the timing and sleep onset. One study suggested that most cell phones use occurs immediately after the lights are switched off. 20.3 % of the adolescents texts and 17.3% make long phone call between midnight and 2-3 am. Among the older adults aged 15-17, one in five are woken up by the incoming text messages between one and three minutes. Thus, it as clear that most of the teens are roused from their sleep by the cell phone text messages and calls. This will make the adolescents lack enough sleep and feel sleepy during the school day (Amy and Hawley 2013). Conclusion Prolonged use of electronic media before normal bedtime causes a clinical significant reduction in the school-aged children and adolescent sleep time. It can be extrapolated that the long-term or repeated prolonged use of electronic media leads to delayed sleep phase disorder that makes the teenagers and kids sleepy during class time. They possess different electronic media in their bedrooms that they use before bed time. Different mechanistic pathways need to be explored. These are Different Mechanisms through which the use of electronic media leads to delayed sleep in the kids and teenagers. References Amy, R and Hawley, E. (2013). The Oxford Handbook of Infant, kid and Adolescent Sleep and Behavior.USA: Oxford University Press Cain ,N and Gradisar, M. (2010). Electronic media use and sleep in the school-aged children and adolescents. Vol11, no, 8: pp, 735-742 Cami, M. (2014). The Teenage Clock: Discussion on Sleep Disorders in Adolescent. Retrieved from: http://www.uwhealth.org/pediatric-pathways/pediatric-pathways-sleep-difficulty- for-teenage-girls/30290 Carskadon, M. (2008). Maturation of sleep patterns in regulating sleep in adolescents. In: Sleep in Children: Developmental Changes in Sleep Patterns. New York: Informa Healthcare.  Crowley , S, Acebo C and Carskadon M. (2007).Sleep, circadian rhythms, and delayed phase in adolescence. vol8. No, 6: pp. 602-612. Wyatt, J. (2004) Delayed sleep phase syndrome: Path physiology and treatment options. Sleep. Vol27, no 6: pp.1195-1203 Read More