Less ‘Sponge Bob’ could lead to more sleep for your preschooler
Aug 6, 2012, 2:40 PM | Updated: Aug 7, 2012, 5:30 am
If you’ve got a preschooler who’s having trouble sleeping, you might want to give “Sponge Bob” the ax.
A new study by Seattle Children’s Research Institute found young children who stuck to educational, non-violent cartoons get a better night’s sleep than those who watch shows designed for older kids.
“When I first started working on this study, I never would have thought “Sponge Bob” had any violence in it because it just doesn’t look like it does until you actually sit down with a notepad and watch it,” says Investigator Michelle Garrison.
Garrison and her fellow researchers followed 565 families from the Seattle area with kids between 3 and 5 years of age over an 18 month period. Half of them were just monitored. The other half were given guidelines of what shows were appropriate for the children.
Garrison says the preschoolers who stuck to shows like “Curious George” and “Sesame Street” were able to get to sleep faster, had fewer wakings at night, fewer nightmares, and overall seemed to have a better disposition during the day.
“We really saw sustained improvements in children’s sleep both in children who had sleep problems to begin with, and even in the children who didn’t have sleep problems to begin with they were less likely to develop them,” Garrison says.
It is not just television shows, either. Researchers found switching to educational games and applications had similar effects on children’s sleep.
Garrison recommends parents use parental controls on televisions and computers. A rating of TV-Y is appropriate for 3 to 5-year-olds. Also, she says the website CommonSenseMedia.org is a great resource.
