It has been pointed out that more children are staying up late due to the spread of smartphones. .

This project was planned by a group led by Professor Yasumi Ueda of the University of Tokyo, and on the 22nd an online symposium was held to introduce the project and think about children's sleep.



Among them, Tetsushi Kishi, a specially appointed lecturer at the University of Tokyo, said that Japanese children sleep for about an hour less than the recommended amount of time, and because of the spread of smartphones and other devices, they are often nocturnal. , pointed out that there are concerns about the impact on academics and mental development, and emphasized the significance of grasping the actual situation.



The target of the project is elementary school students to high school students, who wear a newly developed wristwatch-type device and have them live for a week. This is a plan to gain a detailed understanding of the actual state of children's sleep, such as the percentage of the state in which the brain is temporarily awake, which is said to lead to mental and physical disorders.



We aim to collect data for about 50,000 people nationwide by fiscal 2025, and we would like the data to be passed on to children so that they can be used to review their lifestyle habits and detect sleep disorders at an early stage.

Professor Ueda says, "If we can conduct an accurate fact-finding survey, we will be able to investigate how sleep affects the mind and body. I would like to use this as a foundation to improve children's sleep."

The older you get, the less sleep you get

Regarding the amount of sleep for children, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends that elementary school students aged 6 to 12 sleep 9 to 12 hours and middle school and high school students aged 13 to 18 sleep 8 to 10 hours for good health. I suggested in 2016 that we need time.



Regarding the sleep time of Japanese children, when we asked more than 2 million fifth graders and eighth graders nationwide in the physical fitness survey of children conducted by the Japan Sports Agency, we found that the


sleep time of elementary school students was In 2017,


61.5% of boys and


59.0% of girls had less than 9 hours of sleep, but


last year,


63.8% of boys


and 61.6% of girls, showing


a trend toward shorter sleep hours. I'm here.



In 2017, 71.9% of boys and 78.0% of girls slept less than 8 hours in junior high school, and last year 70.9% of boys and 78.4% of girls continued to exceed 70%.



In addition, according to a survey conducted in 2016 by a group such as the University of Tokyo on more than 18,000 junior and senior high school students, the average amount of sleep for


junior high school boys is ▽ 1st graders

▽ 2nd graders ▽


7.9 hours


7.6 hours


▽ 3rd year: 7.2 hours


Junior high school girls:


▽ 1st year: 7.6 hours


▽ 2nd year: 7.3 hours


▽ 3rd year: 7.0 hours


High school boys:


▽ 1st year: 7.0 hours


▽ 2nd year: 6.8 hours


▽ 3 6.8 hours for first graders


For high school girls, the


time spent was 6.7 hours for 1st year


students, 6.6 hours for 2nd year students,


and 6.6 hours for 3rd year students


.



Furthermore, in a 2014 survey by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology that asked more than 23,000 people nationwide from fifth grade elementary school to third grade high school about children's sleep and lifestyle habits, junior high school students who went to bed after midnight It was 22% and 47% for high school students, which means that the longer you use your mobile phone or smartphone, the slower it tends to be.

More children suffering from sleep disorders

At a clinic in Tokyo that treats children's sleep disorders, etc., many children continue to see a doctor due to the spread of smartphones and the diversification of lifestyles.



Every month, more than 200 children with sleep disorders visit the Segawa Memorial Pediatric Neurology Clinic in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, for treatment.



A third-year high school girl in Yokohama City, who attends this clinic, has been having trouble waking up in the morning since around October three years ago when she was in her third year of junior high school. have become more frequent.



At that time, I was practicing all day and night with the aim of going to a high school where I could learn piano professionally. It means that it has become.



The symptoms gradually worsened, and last year when I was in the second year of high school, I sometimes fell asleep at 6 o'clock in the morning.



I've been going to this clinic since I was a year old, and I was diagnosed with "orthostatic dysregulation," which makes it difficult to wake up in the morning because the function of the autonomic nervous system is disturbed.



With medication and lifestyle improvements, my ability to fall asleep and wake up has gradually improved. There is.



A female student said, "If I come late to school, it will be difficult for me to advance to the next grade. I really want to practice piano at night, but the medicine makes me sleepy and I can't help falling asleep. My symptoms are better than before. However, we have not reached the point where we can see the light yet."

Fukusuido, a doctor at the clinic, said, "I think that many children who are diagnosed with sleep disorders are in a situation where they see bright lights and get excited until late at night, such as video distribution sites, online games, cram schools, and lessons. There are cases in which families are nocturnal and their children are affected by their sleep time, and I believe that society as a whole must solve the problem of people going to bed late and waking up late.” I'm talking to