Is your child not getting enough sleep? Blame the phone

Kids today are growing up in a world where they have unlimited access to technology. While gadgets, like the phone or a tablet, is a must for us, kids too have become addicted to the screen and it is doing them a great deal of damage.






Getting enough sleep is important for children as well as adults. More and more parents are complaining about their children's sleep cycles disturbed. If there's one root cause for this, it is their increasing dependency on smartphones.The constant screen time is also causing childhood obesity and disturbed mental health. 


How does the phone harm your sleep


Blue light emission is one of the major causes of disturbed sleep. When the phone is kept on, high levels of blue light is emitted, which disrupts the body's natural rhythm. For kids who stay glued to the phone, with their necks crouched down playing a game or watching a video, melatonin, which is essential for a good sleep cycle is also disturbed.

If phones are the problem, why not simply do it away with?

Phones may be causing the problem but sleep disruptions are also to be blamed for lack of a set bedtime for kids. With both parents working, it was observed that it was hard for a child to have a fixed sleep schedule. Lack of sleep can have a negative effect on a child's ability to learn. Over tired kids work more slowly and this has an effect on their long-term memory skills. They're more distracted, may make more careless errors, and have a hard time focusing. On the contrary, children getting proper sleep are better equipped to make good decisions, have more energy, use their minds creatively than those lacking it. When the sleep pattern is affected, children's growth pattern and immune system also go for a toss, which impacts their overall growth.

How to improve the sleep cycle?

As doctors stress, it is extremely important for parents to take charge. Without a proper sleep cycle in place, kids turn to sugar and energy drinks to compensate for the same. Doing so leads to obesity. So, it's not just social media and phone usage that is causing kids to lose their sleep. Increased dependency on the phone and improper pattern also affects their mental health, making them more tired, grumpy, irritable.

It is important for children to get their sleep cycle fixed, as early as possible. The best way to tackle the problem is to weigh down a proper bedtime, to be followed every day and reduce smartphone usage an hour before bedtime.

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