TY - JOUR
T1 - Effects of touchscreen media use on toddlers’ sleep
T2 - Insights from longtime ECG monitoring
AU - Hackl-Wimmer, Sigrid
AU - Eglmaier, Marina Tanja Waltraud
AU - Eichen, Lars
AU - Rettenbacher, Karoline
AU - Macher, Daniel
AU - Walter-Laager, Catherine
AU - Lackner, Helmut Karl
AU - Papousek, Ilona
AU - Paechter, Manuela
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was funded by Zukunftsfonds Steiermark, grant number ABT08-103259/2018|PN:1018. Open Access Funding by the University of Graz.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2021/11/1
Y1 - 2021/11/1
N2 - Wearable biomedical sensor technology enables reliable monitoring of physiological data, even in very young children. The purpose of the present study was to develop algorithms for gaining valid physiological indicators of sleep quality in toddlers, using data from an undisturbing and easy-to-use wearable device. The study further reports the application of this technique to the investigation of potential impacts of early touchscreen media use. Toddlers’ touchscreen media use is of strong interest for parents, educators, and researchers. Mostly, negative effects of media use are assumed, among them, disturbances of sleep and impairments of learning and development. In 55 toddlers (32 girls, 23 boys; 27.4 ± 4.9 months; range: 16–37 months), ECG monitoring was conducted for a period of 30 (±3) h. Parents were asked about their children’s touchscreen media use and they rated their children’s sleep quality. The use of touchscreen media predicted the physiologically determined quality of sleep but not parent-reported sleep quality (such as sleep onset latency). Greater heart rate differences between restless sleep phases and restful sleep indicated poorer nighttime recovery in children with more frequent use of touchscreen media. The study demonstrates that the expert analysis of the ECG during sleep is a potent tool for the estimation of sleep quality in toddlers.
AB - Wearable biomedical sensor technology enables reliable monitoring of physiological data, even in very young children. The purpose of the present study was to develop algorithms for gaining valid physiological indicators of sleep quality in toddlers, using data from an undisturbing and easy-to-use wearable device. The study further reports the application of this technique to the investigation of potential impacts of early touchscreen media use. Toddlers’ touchscreen media use is of strong interest for parents, educators, and researchers. Mostly, negative effects of media use are assumed, among them, disturbances of sleep and impairments of learning and development. In 55 toddlers (32 girls, 23 boys; 27.4 ± 4.9 months; range: 16–37 months), ECG monitoring was conducted for a period of 30 (±3) h. Parents were asked about their children’s touchscreen media use and they rated their children’s sleep quality. The use of touchscreen media predicted the physiologically determined quality of sleep but not parent-reported sleep quality (such as sleep onset latency). Greater heart rate differences between restless sleep phases and restful sleep indicated poorer nighttime recovery in children with more frequent use of touchscreen media. The study demonstrates that the expert analysis of the ECG during sleep is a potent tool for the estimation of sleep quality in toddlers.
KW - 3D acceleration sensor
KW - ECG derived respiration
KW - Heart rate
KW - Heart rate variability
KW - Restless sleep
KW - Sleep latency
KW - Wearable biomedical sensing
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85118920467&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/s21227515
DO - 10.3390/s21227515
M3 - Article
C2 - 34833593
AN - SCOPUS:85118920467
SN - 1424-8220
VL - 21
JO - Sensors
JF - Sensors
IS - 22
M1 - 7515
ER -