Impulsive behaviour linked to sleep and screen time: Study

Children and youth who do not sleep enough and use screens more than recommended are more likely to act impulsively and make poorer decisions, says a recent study.

"Impulsive behaviour is associated with numerous mental health and addiction problems, including eating disorders, behavioural addictions, and substance abuse," says said Dr Michelle Guerrero, lead author and postdoctoral fellow at the CHEO Research Institute and the University of Ottawa.

"This study shows the importance of especially paying attention to sleep and recreational screen time, and reinforces the Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for Children and Youth," adds Dr Guerrero.

"When kids follow these recommendations, they are more likely to make better decisions and act less rashly than those who do not meet the guidelines," he says.

The Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for Children and Youth recommend 9-11 hours of sleep a night and no more than two hours of recreational screen time a day.

The paper published in the journal -- Pediatrics -- analysed data for 4,524 children from the first set of data of a large longitudinal population study called the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, which will follow participants for 10 years.

In addition to sleep and screen time, the ABCD Study also captures data related to physical activity. Physical activity is a third pillar of the Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines, which recommend at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity daily.

The ABCD Study allowed Guerrero and her team to look at the three pillars of the movement guidelines against eight measures of impulsivity, such as one's tendency to seek out thrilling experiences, to set desired goals, to respond sensitively to rewarding or unpleasant stimuli, and to act rashly in negative and positive moods.

The study results suggested that meeting all three pillars of the movement guidelines was associated with more favourable outcomes on five of the eight dimensions.

Guerrero and her team said that studies using feedback devices to measure the movement behaviours in future research will help further our understanding of how physical activity, screen time, and sleep relate to children's impulsivity.