Bedtime TV affects kids' sleep badly

Kids who watch more television sleep for shorter duration, a study has confirmed.

Even the presence of television in the bedroom is linked to less sleep among kids, said the study by researchers from MassGeneral Hospital for Children (MGHfC) and Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) in the US.

Each additional hour of television viewing was associated with seven fewer minutes of sleep daily - with the effects appearing to be stronger in boys than in girls - the study found.

The presence of a bedroom television reduced average sleep around a half-hour per day, said the study.

The study involved more than 1,800 children from ages 6 months to nearly 8 years.

The children and their mothers were enrolled in Project Viva, a long-term investigation of the health effects of several factors during pregnancy and after birth.

This study analysed information regarding how much time each day infants were in a room where a television was on, how much time older children watched television daily, whether children ages four to seven slept in a room where a TV was present and the children's average daily amount of sleep.

The study is scheduled to be published in the forthcoming issue of journal Pediatrics.