Australian educators warned that
using digital devices at night affects the sleeping habits of students and
damages their mental health. The trend is causing children to act like “device
vampires” with disrupted sleep cycles that see them sleep through much of the
school day. Sarah Blunden, director of the Australian Centre for Education in
Sleep, said that the blue light emitted by mobile devices delays the release of
melatonin, the hormone that regulates sleep, disrupting the body’s circadian
rhythms, which regulate sleep cycles. She said: “because our circadian clock
does have a distance to run, because we go to sleep later, we are alert later.”If
you have a disrupted circadian clock, one that is delayed, but also one that is
different day to day, you are more likely to have an emotional liability, that
is, a much more volatile emotional state. You’re more likely to be depressed or
have waves of depression or anxiety. Schools and parents needed to coordinate
to ensure children were using technology appropriately. She added: “Schools
have a huge role to play in teaching children about creating balance in their
life. There are apps that parents can put on their own phone that don’t
restrict children from accessing technology, but allow parents to know what
apps their children are accessing, so parents can have a conversation with
their kids. There’s a real opportunity for parents to educate children
there."
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