Most parents believe electronics cause sleeping problems for teens
Your teenagers’ cellphones or electronic devices may be the root of their sleeping problems at night.
A majority of parents whose teens are having sleep issues believe electronics, social media and cellphones are the cause. The C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health recently conducted a survey of parents on how often their teenage children experience sleep problems and how they address it.
“Inadequate or disrupted sleep can cause teens to feel irritable or moody; it can cause difficulty concentrating in school and increase the risk of auto accidents for teen drivers,” the report said. “Inadequate sleep has been linked to health problems ranging from obesity to depression.”
According to the survey, 43 percent of parents said their teen has trouble with falling asleep or waking up at night and being unable to go back to sleep. Of those parents, 56 percent of them blamed electronics, cellphones and social media for their teen’s problems. Ten percent attributed their teen’s sleeping issues to medical or health problems.
“Parents had their teens try a range of strategies to deal with sleep problems, including limiting caffeine in the evening (54 percent), turning off electronics/cellphones at bedtime (53 percent), having a snack before bed (44 percent), and natural/herbal remedies such as melatonin (36 percent),” the report said. “One quarter of parents (28 percent) said their teen had tried some type of medication to address sleep problems, including over-the-counter sleep medicine (16 percent), over-the-counter antihistamines (14 percent), and prescription sleep medicine (5 percent).”
The report also said the most common doctor recommendations for teen sleep issues included turning off electronics, following a set sleeping schedule, limiting caffeine and taking natural/herbal remedies.
Danielle covers Clinical Innovation & Technology as a senior news writer for TriMed Media. Previously, she worked as a news reporter in northeast Missouri and earned a journalism degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She's also a huge fan of the Chicago Cubs, Bears and Bulls.