Couch Time Causes Insomnia in Children

Many school-age children experience trouble falling asleep. As many as 16% of parents report having problems getting their children to fall sleep at night. Researchers say the solution could be as simple as getting more physical exercise during the day.

The amount of physical activity children receive during the day plays an important role in childhood sleep patterns, according to a study recently published in Archives of Disease in Childhood. Researchers at the University of Auckland in New Zealand found that inactivity can lead to insomnia in children. Too many hours on the couch playing video games, watching television shows or movies, even reading made it harder for children to fall asleep and stay asleep. Researchers found that it took children three extra minutes to fall asleep at night for every hour they spent engaged in sedentary activities during the day.

In the largest study of its kind, researchers compared the activity and sleep patterns of over 500 seven-year-olds. It took children from 13 to 42 minutes to fall asleep with 26 minutes being the average. Children who engaged in sedentary pursuits like TV watching and video games during the day took the longest to fall sleep. As physical activity increased, the amount of time it took for children to enter dreamland shortened. Those who were the most physically active during the day fell asleep the fastest and also slept the longest.

“These findings emphasize the importance of physical activity for children, not only for fitness, cardiovascular health and weight control, but also for promoting good sleep,” the researchers concluded.

Researchers found that parents universally overestimated the amount of time their children spent falling asleep. On average it took children 15 minutes longer to fall asleep than parents indicated on study surveys. Television and video games can over-stimulate children, making it harder for them to fall asleep. Limiting such activities in the evening can promote better sleeping habits. But healthy, physical exercise during the day is the key to tiring out energetic youngsters so they can fall asleep at night. Children who get adequate sleep at night (8 to 10 hours) do better in school and are less likely to become obese.