It is for her a “public health problem”. The National Academy of Medicine publishes this Thursday a press release on the consequences of exposure to light from screens in children and adolescents.
While doctors acknowledge that digital tools are “a remarkable training and awakening tool,” they point to the dangers of “abuse” of screens because they induce “retinal phototoxicity and sleep-sleep rhythm dysregulation.”
The dangers of blue light
First, the Academy of Medicine believes that exposure to screens before the age of three is not recommended. In addition, from this age, these practices must be “supervised by parents or educators and emphasis must be placed on their interactivity and playful nature”.
One of the adverse health effects is due to the nature of the light generated by screens. “Currently available LEDs emit a peak blue light emission, close to ultraviolet radiation, whose deleterious effects on the retina are known,” writes the Academy of Medicine.
Light from screens can damage the photoreceptors in the retina “that provide fine vision, reading, writing, and color vision.” The Academy of Medicine recommends the use of protective glasses against blue light.
“Social Jet Lag”
Academics especially caution against using screens at night. Thus, they explain that retinal photopigments are consumed during the day to allow vision and are then regenerated at night “in darkness, which must be total.” Therefore, exposure to screens at night inhibits this mechanism.
Beyond the harmful consequences for the eyes, the Academy of Medicine is concerned about the risk of “internal clock desynchronization” from the use of screens at night.
“In these adolescents, the result is a delayed sleep, linked to an increase in wakefulness generated by a delay in the clock phase and to an inhibition of melatonin secretion, involved in falling asleep,” the doctors detail.
Consequence: children and adolescents develop sleep-wake rhythm disorders, also called “social jet lag”.
Protect the rhythm and children’s eyes.
According to the Academy of Medicine, 14% of college students and 29% of high school students sleep less than 7 hours on school days, and sleep debt is present in 26% of college students and 43% of high school students.
These are increasing morning tiredness and deterioration of learning abilities linked to a decrease in alertness and attention, which can lead to a drop in school results.
Doctors also point to an increase in mood disorders (stress, anxiety-depression) and violent and hyperactive behaviors, as well as metabolic disorders (17% of boys and 11% of girls are overweight or obese at the age of 11).
To protect children’s rhythm and health, the Academy of Medicine recommends in its press release “restrict, even outlaw, the use of screens at night” and “ensure regular bedtimes and wake-up times.”
Beyond the use of anti-blue light glasses and supervision of screen use, especially in the evening and at night, the Academy of Medicine recommends introducing awareness of the risks associated with screens and the importance of sleep into the school curriculum. as well as sensitize parents about these dangers. “The drop in school performance and the withdrawal of their children are two essential warning signs that they must be attentive to,” the academics conclude.
Source: BFM TV
