The latest research on kids and sleep homes in on the biggest
dream-robber. Children are sleeping less, and there’s no
shortage of reasons why: with television, video games and the
internet, they are finding it harder to shut down and go to
sleep. Over the last century, the time children spend asleep has
declined by more than an hour. But which factors are most
responsible for keeping kids awake? In a study published in the
journal Pediatrics, researchers in New Zealand surveyed more
than 2,000 children and young adults aged 5 to 18 about their
activities over a 24 hour period. The scientists were interested
in learning whether children who went to bed earlier engaged in
different activities than those who went to sleep later, and
focused on what the children did in the hour and a half before
bedtime. The participants listed everything from eating, getting
ready for bed, reading, and completing homework, to watching
television, playing video games and listening to music.
Television was the most common pre-bed