Rabaina Kaur
Vol. 22, Issue 1, Jul-Dec 2026
Abstract:
Sleep recommendations for school-aged children are well established, yet many U.S. children do not meet them, and screen use is one of the most studied possible reasons. Most national U.S. estimates of the screen-sleep link come from data collected in 2016. This study used the 2024 and 2025 National Survey of Children’s Health to examine how weekday recreational screen time relates to sleep in 68,916 children aged 6 to 17 years. Insufficient sleep was defined using American Academy of Sleep Medicine targets (9 hours for ages 6 to 12; 8 hours for ages 13 to 17). Survey-weighted regression models adjusted for age, sex, race and ethnicity, family income, adult education and survey year. Overall, 35.2% of children had insufficient sleep. The adjusted share rose from 22.5% among children with less than 1 hour of screen time to 41.2% among those with 4 or more hours (odds ratio 2.59; 95% CI 2.17 to 3.09). The link was stronger in children aged 6 to 12 (odds ratio 2.96) than in teenagers (1.49), and it remained among children with regular bedtimes (odds ratio 2.38). Heavy screen users slept only about 26 minutes less per night, but this shift was enough to move many children below their target. The findings suggest that screen limits and regular bedtimes are both worth encouraging, and that children aged 6 to 12 deserve as much attention as teenagers in sleep guidance.
DOI: http://doi.org/10.37648/ijrmst.v22i01.004
Disclaimer: Indexing of published papers is subject to the evaluation and acceptance criteria of the respective indexing agencies. While we strive to maintain high academic and editorial standards, International Journal of Research in Medical Sciences and Technology does not guarantee the indexing of any published paper. Acceptance and inclusion in indexing databases are determined by the quality, originality, and relevance of the paper, and are at the sole discretion of the indexing bodies.