Children not getting enough sleep due to TV and video games
Children not getting enough sleep due to TV and video games
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By Matt Hallam. |  |
Thursday, 18, Feb 2010 10:48
By inthenews.co.uk staff..
A new report has found children in the UK are not getting enough sleep because they are staying up to watch TV and play video games.
A questionnaire carried out by the BBC's children programme Newsround asked 1,000 children aged between nine and 11 at schools across the UK how much sleep they got every night.
Most said they went to bed at 21:30, but a quarter said their bedtime was 22:00 or later and half said they were not getting enough sleep and wanted more, the broadcaster found.
Around half of the children asked said they were staying up late to play on computer games and their mobile phones or to watch television.
Experts have raised concerns a lack of sleep can affect children's concentration, and can even increase bad behaviour.
The NHS says on its website: "There's no magical number of hours required by all children in a certain age group.
"Sleep is very important to a child's wellbeing. A lack of sleep can lead a child to become hyperactive, disagreeable, and have extremes in behaviour."
The health service suggests, as recommended by the Millpond Children's Sleep Clinic that children aged nine-years-old should have ten hours sleep a night, and children of 11 should have nine and a half hours sleep a night.