01/09/2026
Great info from Dr Leila Masson
"A 2025 study published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders looked at 628 autistic children aged 7 to 12, recruited from across Australia — so this is directly relevant to our context here in Sydney. Parents reported on their child's screen time, sleep quality, diet quality, and food selectivity.
The results showed a clear chain of effects: more screen time was linked to poorer sleep, and poorer sleep was linked to worse diet quality and more food selectivity (picky eating).
The link between screens and diet ran largely through sleep — disrupt the sleep, and the eating suffers too.
This makes intuitive sense, but it's useful to have the data behind it.
Children with autism already tend to have more restricted diets due to sensory sensitivities. Add disrupted sleep to the equation, and the tolerance for new or challenging foods often drops further.
And tired children reach for familiar, processed, easy foods — which tend to be exactly the kind that drive gut inflammation.
This Australian study also fits with a 2025 systematic review, which concluded that greater screen use is consistently associated with poorer sleep in autistic children and adolescents, including shorter sleep duration, later bedtimes, longer time to fall asleep, and poorer overall sleep quality"
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10803-025-07064-8
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Purpose Autistic children are more likely to experience challenges with poor diet quality or selective eating behaviours in comparison to neurotypical peers, which may predispose them to nutrient deficiencies and suboptimal weight status. Thus, it is crucial to identify factors associated with these...
