Health hubs / Children's health: education
Screen time, sleep and exercise
WHO and AAP guidance, quoted, plus what active play does for thinking.
Talk to your pediatrician. This section is education only and does not replace your child's medical care. Doses for children are only quoted from official guidance (AAP, NIH ODS, WHO).
Screens
The AAP advises avoiding digital media other than video chatting before 18 to 24 months, and limiting children 2 to 5 years to 1 hour a day of high-quality programming watched together [1][2]. WHO advises no sedentary screen time for children under 2 and no more than 1 hour for ages 2 to 4 [3].
Exercise
WHO recommends an average of 60 minutes a day of moderate-to-vigorous activity for ages 5 to 17 [4]. An American College of Sports Medicine review found physical activity has positive effects on cognitive function in children, while effects on academic achievement are less consistent [5]. Sleep targets by age are in our sleep and growth article [6].
Sources
- AAP Council on Communications and Media 2016, Pediatrics. doi.org/10.1542/peds.2016-2591
- AAP HealthyChildren.org, Media. www.healthychildren.org/English/family-life/Media/Pages/default.aspx
- WHO 2019, Guidelines on physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep for children under 5. www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241550536
- WHO 2020, Guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour. www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240015128
- Donnelly et al. 2016, Med Sci Sports Exerc. doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0000000000000901
- Paruthi et al. 2016, J Clin Sleep Med (AASM). doi.org/10.5664/jcsm.5866
DOIs verified against Crossref and official pages checked on 2026-10-15.