Study: Cartoons can disrupt kids’ sleeping patterns

Cartoons may be the reason your kids can’t sleep.

A year-long study in the journal Pediatrics found kids ages three to five can be scared by Bugs Bunny and the Roadrunner.

Mike Eichenberg with Banner Desert and Cardon Children’s Hospital in Mesa said kids can suffer nightmares and sleeping problems from things adults may not even notice.

“Anything that’s a stressor can affect the way you sleep and how well you sleep,” he said. “Especially in children. They’re very sensitive.”

Eichenberg said that children generally begin to identify things as scary when they hit preschool age and should be watching age-appropriate programming.

“Change the old Tom & Jerry cartoons to Dora the Explorer and see what kinds of results you get,” he said.

After one year, kids who only watched educational, age-appropriate parents said their kids slept better and longer.