Teens, Phones, and Sleep

There has been a lot written in the press lately about cell phone usage among teens. One of the things that researches are helping us parents to worry about is cell phone usage at bed time. Screen brightness, late night texting, melatonin levels, snapchat anxiety, etc all seem to be contributing to our kids getting less sleep and/or lower quality sleep.

CBC recently reported:

The average teen should get nine hours of sleep, but the medical literature and research at SickKids suggest they get only about seven hours. - link.

The Better Health channel in Australia reports:

Adolescents (teenagers) need between nine and 10 hours of sleep every night. Regularly not getting enough sleep (chronic sleep deprivation) can affect a teenager's academic and sporting performance and may increase their risk of emotional problems such as depression. Even 30 minutes of extra sleep each night makes a difference. - link.

Dr. David Palmiter:

...three out of four teens report bringing their cell phones into their bedrooms at night, with 56% texting every night/almost every night... - link.

I suppose all this is applicable to adults as well, do you watch tv or read on a back lit electronic device at bed time? Maybe you're being affected too...