About
Lecturer
The main goal of my research activities is to promote awareness regarding the important of sleep, to parents, children and adolescents. It is well accepted that sleep plays a vital role in health as well as behavioral and emotional stability. Those who suffer from poor sleep quality exhibit higher rates of psychological stress, depression, and various anxiety symptoms than the general population. Despite of the crucial influence of inadequate sleep, parents and teachers aren't aware of the influences of poor sleep and aren't promoting good sleep hygiene. Many adolescents suffer from fatigue during the day and have trouble to func tion at school. A number of environmental factors affect sleep patterns; variables such as: early school hours, increased homework assignments, after school activities, lack of parental demand for adequate sleep hours, and increased "screen time", or use of electronic media, including television, computer games, internet and cellular phones. Electronic media, such as television, computers and mobile devices, is a dominant force in the lives of children and adolescents. The time of exposure to media among children and youth is in direct contact with age and technological progress. In the past decade, several studies have investigated the effect of electronic media consumption on sleep patterns and have shown that uncontrolled consumption of electronic media is a significant factor in the development of poor sleep patterns. Therefore my main aim is to develop an effective intervention program which deals with increasing parents' awareness in order to promote healthy behaviors including healthy sleep patterns and controlled exposure to electronic media.
Areas of interest
SleepAdoleacents
Health related behaviors
Media and sleep