Video gaming teens sleep less – study

Teens who play a lot of video games are likely to sleep less than the eight to nine hours a night recommended for the age group, according to researchers.

Speaking via teleconference from the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, researchers said that an analysis of data on 16,000 teens also found that youths who reported sleeping less than seven hours a night did not get enough exercise, which could also impact their health.

And not getting enough sleep is detrimental for all – and has a particularly negative effect on teens, added Caris Fitzgerald, a psychiatry resident at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences who led the study.

A poor night’s sleep can bring on a slew of ill effects, including low energy, poor concentration, moodiness, a greater tendency to act on impulse and more suicidal thoughts. Yet only 10 per cent of US teens get the recommended hours of shut-eye, according to the study, for which Dr Fitzgerald and her fellow researchers analysed the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2009 Youth Risk Behavior Survey.

Because teens have “accelerated demands for growth and memory retention, very vital things with regard to the teen in their overall success,” getting sufficient sleep is even more important for them, Dr Fitzgerald said.

But they also struggle to do so more than adults.