Dunedin high school teachers are concerned electronic devices are stopping pupils from getting the sleep they need.
Some pupils are spending almost all night on social media and electronic games before dragging themselves into class.
Logan Park High School counsellor Han Verberne said electronic devices - particularly social media applications - were addictive for pupils.
‘‘It is not unusual for me to see some Facebook transcripts that have gone from 9 [pm] to 5 in the morning,'' Mr Verberne said.
‘‘There are a number of kids who have face-to-face contact with computers or devices who lose all sense of time and their lives become unbalanced as a result, including not sleeping.''
Mr Verberne said he worried that young people weren't sufficiently mature to know when to switch off.
A survey of pupils at Taieri College showed 66% of them said poor sleep patterns contributed to stress levels at school.
Taieri College principal David Hunter said parents could help children get a good night's sleep by restricting their use of electronic devices.
‘‘Cellphones, tablets, iPads and gaming consoles don't need to be tucked under the pillow or left during the night beside the bed,'' Mr Hunter said.
‘‘The temptation to check messages or play one more game often leads to lack of sleep.
‘‘The brain needs to switch off before sleep, not switch on.''
Dunedin School of Medicine dean Prof Barry Taylor said the blue lights in electronic devices stimulated brain activity.
Receptors in the retina picked up only light in the blue spectrum, stopping the body from producing the chemical melatonin, which told the body that it was time to go to sleep.
Mr Taylor said the evidence pointed to clear advice for those wanting a good night's sleep - turn off everything a minimum of half-an-hour to an hour before going to sleep.
Otago Girls' High School principal Linda Miller said she had noticed a correlation between poor classroom performance and excessive use of electronic devices.
‘‘Certainly students who struggle to concentrate in class, there's often a link with their use of devices.''
Ms Miller's advice to parents wanting to help improve their children's sleep was strict.
‘‘What we recommend to parents is that they take their electronic devices off their kids at night and turn Wi-Fi off at night, because all of the research shows exposure to digital devices, especially prior to sleep, has a disruptive effect on their sleep patterns and therefore their ability to function effectively the next day.''
- by Joshua Riddiford
