If you are one of those parents who hand over smartphones to your kids to influence them, so here we have some bad news for you. In an increasingly popular trend, parents are seen giving smartphones to their children to occupy them while they finish their work.

While there are plenty of researches done which already point out the side-effects of using a smartphone in bed, people still end up scrolling their night away on inane social media posts. So, if you wake up groggy, annoyed and complain of sleep deprivation, you better know whom to blame. Similarly, if your kids (and teens) look a little dizzy and sleep-deprived throughout the day, you need to seriously monitor their screen time.

According to some recent research, using a smartphone, right before bedtime is the number one culprit when it comes to sleep disorder in kids. The reason behind the same is actually a no brainer.

Children’s brain is yet in the developing stage, exposure to blue light generated by smartphones and several other gadgets disturb their internal body clock to a huge quantity.

Another important factor to remember is the larger pupils of children, which make them more vulnerable towards light sensitivity. These two factors in combination wreak destruction on the melatonin levels of your child.

Melatonin is a hormone in our body that regulates the sleep cycle. When a large amount of light is recognized by the retina, melatonin’s level drops down. So, one can imagine how exposing your little ones to the dreaded blue light emitted by the screens of smartphones can terribly hamper with their night time routine.

What should you do?

Initially, you need to assure that you do not let your children play (or watch videos) on smartphones for extended hours. Instead, encourage them to read regularly and free play time for their better health.

Secondly, get away the mobile phone from your kids before they go off to sleep. This will secure that they do not peak in a video or two and end up scrolling tons of YouTube videos. It is also essential to note that you do not keep the phones in the same room, where your children sleep. The same study pointed out that children who left their phone in their room met more sleep disturbance.

The takeaway

To put it simply,  laptops and smartphones are not only affecting your sleep but your little ones' too. Make it a point to keep the phone away from the kid at least 2 hours before going to bed. Utmost of all is put a pause on your late-night Netflix and chill sessions if you want to set a good example for your children.