Online Gaming, PC Lighting & Impact on Sleep Quality in Children

There is much written about the effects of computer games, played in the evening, upon quality of sleep and how sleep can be impaired by the evening effects of video and computer games. For many parents, the restricted access of their children to video games serves to promote early bedtime and more quality sleep. Even with the best efforts, however, children and teens are continuing to sleep fewer and fewer hours, experiencing a reduction in quality of sleep.

In today's society, it is estimated that nearly 50 percent of all children and teenagers go to bed later due to video game or computer game access. This later bed time equates into few sleep hours for many of these same children. In addition, the degree to which your child experiences a complication of sleep may result from not only the timing of the video game or computer game play, but also the degree to which the task is considered complex and the amount of actual time spent engaged in that game. Considering these factors, timing, length of time and degree of challenge, you can improve your child's sleep time and quality.

In addition to the factors of challenge and timing, parents are also learning that lighting may have a key role in the quality and quantity of sleep in the child who engages in video game play time. Because evening, and decrease in light, brings about a rise in melatonin, sleep is naturally induced. However, in children who engage in computer and video games in the evening, the release of melatonin may be delayed due to the artificial lighting projected from the television screen or computer screen. As a result, the playing of video games and computer games late into the evening may result in a delayed circadian rhythm in your child.