Primary schoolchildren are three times more likely to believe they should avoid using electronic devices an hour before bedtime after they took part in a study on sleep.
A Dublin City University study that sought to monitor and change the sleeping habits of 24 sixth-class pupils in a disadvantaged area reported an “increased awareness of the negative impacts of the use of electronic media on sleep”.
Before the five-week study, less than one in five children agreed that they should not use electronic devices an hour before bedtime. After the study, almost half of the children agreed with the statement.
The study found that after the “five-week intervention period” where children were asked to record times they went to bed, woke and how they felt during the day that their “sleep behaviour” had “greatly improved”. Children and parents were also encouraged to avoid certain foods, such as fizzy drinks and hot chocolate before bedtime.
Before the study almost two thirds of the children felt like they needed more sleep because they were tired the next day during school. Afterwards this had decreased to one third.
Post-study, three quarters of the group said they would go to bed earlier in future. Three quarters of the children were going to bed before 11pm before the study, which increased to 96 per cent by the end.
One parent said: “It was good getting the list of foods to avoid before going to bed. I learnt some good tips for helping my daughter get to sleep, I thought the TV was helping but now I realise she’s not able to fall asleep herself without it so that’s not good. It made me realise the things I shouldn’t be giving before bed, like hot chocolate. That will change now.”
Another parent said: “There was a lot of things I didn’t know, like about the light receptors in your eyes and how looking at your phone in bed can make falling asleep harder. The TV in the bedroom needs to go, it’s probably keeping her awake and she needs her sleep now going into secondary school.”
Paul Downes, director of the Educational Disadvantage Centre and co-author of the report, said: “This inexpensive, brief intervention reveals real change in sleep behaviour patterns on nights before schooldays and awareness of this issue among these pupils, albeit in this small sample. It offers real promise for replication and development elsewhere.”
He added: “Previous research carried out for the Educational Disadvantage Research Centre has shown that almost two thirds of pupils were taught by teachers who said that their teaching was limited to some extent or a lot because pupils were not getting enough sleep.”
Dr Downes said this study could serve as a model for a “sleep health programme” for primary schools.
“There is a glaring silence on this key educational and health issue of sleep deficits which will hopefully be remedied in the next National Children’s Policy Framework,” he added.
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