Nowadays the U.S. students are sleepy in school because they spend too much time texting, playing video games, watching TV and using the media in other ways. "Heavy media use interferes with sleep by reducing sleep duration, making it harder to fall asleep, and lowering sleep quality," Meilan Zhang, an assistant professor at the University of Texas at El Paso, wrote in her research review in the journal, Sleep Medicine. But the relationship between youth's media use and sleep is not so simple, said Michael Gradisar, who authored both that review and the Sleep Medicine meta-analysis. "Technology use is the new evidence when we are trying to answer 'Why are school-age children sleeping less?'" said Mr. Gradisar, an associate professor of psychology at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia. There may be safe limits to technology use, Mr. Gradisar stated. For instance, recent research results indicate that using a bright screen for an hour before bed or even playing violent video games for less than that will not necessarily interfere with teenagers' sleep, he wrote. But longer periods of usage can be harmful to sleep, Mr. Gradisar added. Rather than delaying school start times, he said, the first step should be educating parents about limiting the hours that their children are using technology before bed, and enforcing a consistent bedtime. Early school start times are also commonly blamed for students' sleepiness, especially for adolescents. Secondary schools around the nation and the world have been delaying start times, often with positive results. Mr. Minnich of the TIMSS and PIRLS International Study Center hesitated to put blame to any particular factor. But he did think that cost-saving measures to consolidate bus routes might help explain U.S. students' sleepiness. "For those children who board the bus first, they must get up earlier, may end up sleeping on the way to school, and may end up arriving at school sleepy." he said. Which of the following may be the good way to help kids sleep better?
Parents should be well educated. Technology is forbidden at home. Their playing time must be limited. They are allowed to go to school early.