Parents pay attention! A recent study has found that, children who use smartphones or tablets at bedtime may be at more than twice the risk of inadequate sleep, which may lead to several health issues like poor diet and obesity.

A study by the researchers from the Cardiff University in the United Kingdom, that includes 1,25,198 kids also found that, day time sleepiness and sleep quantity were affected to a similar magnitude.

Ben Carter from Cardiff University, said that, “Our study is the first to consolidate results across existing research and provides further proof of the detrimental effect of media devices on both sleep duration and quality.”

The researchers suggest, sleep is an important part for the development of children. A regular lack of sleep may cause a variety of health problems.

“With the ever growing popularity of portable media devices, such as smartphones and tablets, the problem of poor sleep amongst children is set to get worse,” he said.

Carter added, “Our findings suggest that an integrated approach involving parents, teachers, and healthcare professionals is necessary to improve sleep habits near bedtime.”

At present, nearly 72 per cent of children and around 89 per cent of adolescents carry at least one device in their sleeping environment and they use mostly near bedtime.

Such electronic gadgets impact sleep through a variety of ways including displacing, psychologically stimulating the brain, delaying or interrupting sleep time and affecting circadian timing, alertness and sleep physiology.

Also Read: Parents attention please! Healthy Diet may boost Children's Reading Skills

Nandini