Kids must switch off mobiles at night

Chennai: Mobile phones and tablets have become a way of life for people. Many of them even sleep at night with these gadgets in close proximity. A study conducted by the National Sleep Foundation in US concluded that children who leave electronic devices on at night sleep an hour less than kids who do not use such devices. This holds true even in the case of our cities where sleep medicine specialists, counsellors and neurologists are being constantly visited by parents who complain about their children's addiction to mobile phones.

Dr Lakshmi Narasimhan, professor of neurology at Madras Medical College, is concerned about the future generation. “I see lot of people suffering from anxiety due to excessive use of mobile phones. Parents complain that children go to sleep late at night and that till then they are active on social networking sites. Net addiction is a serious issue and we have to start working on it from now or else it will be the biggest burden in the near future,” he says, adding that mobile phone addiction is equal to drug addiction.

“People keep on calling or texting the same person till he / she replies. Think what kind of behavioural changes that the addiction leads to. No wonder children keep their mobile phones beside them even during sleep,” he says.   

Not just in the West, studies conducted in India too focus on sleep disorders among children, says Dr. Suresh Kumar, consultant neurology and sleep medicine at Fortis Malar and Vijaya Health Centre.

 “We are attempting to conduct a survey among school children in Chennai on their sleep pattern. Targeting around 20,000 children, questions will include the duration of mobile phone use. We have to regulate the time spent on mobile phone, television, tablets or laptops. It’s a problem of every household as the light from backlit electronics stimulates the brain and tends to upset the normal sleep rhythm. Kids are so addicted that their sleep time changes and they develop daytime sleeping,” says Dr Kumar, suggesting that all gadgets be switched off before sleep and to follow the sleep rhythm.

Children between two and six years require at least 10 hours of sleep and adolescents eight to nine hours of sleep. “Adults need to sleep at least for six to seven hours and there should not be any change in sleep rhythm on weekends,” he says.