Children who watch television or sleep in a room with a television get less sleep than their peers who don't have constant access to it, according to a new study by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). The average reduction in sleep duration for children, experts say, amounts to half an hour per night.
As demonstrated by numerous studies, sleep deprivation can lead to the development of physical and mental health problems, so the findings of this particular study should be taken very seriously.
The study involved 1,800 children, aged 6 months to 8 years, demonstrating that the correlation between TV viewing and reduced sleep duration applies to all age groups.
Statistically, for every additional hour of television watching, children lost an average of seven minutes of sleep each night. The association was stronger for racial and ethnic minority children, the researchers found.
The research concludes that having a television in a child's room is detrimental to children's sleep habits.
