Study shows iPad works just as well as a sedative for kids

By: TC Newman

Sometimes you just need technology to take your mind off of things, and that is never more true than when you're in the hospital. Especially when it comes to your children.

A French medical study presented at the World Congress of Anesthesiologists says that they think they've found something just as good as prescription drugs to calm kids just about to go into surgery. A tablet. Whether it's an iPad or an Android, these doctors say that this handheld piece of technology can be as good as a sedative.

Their findings are based on an experiment performed on children between the ages of 4 and 10. Twenty minutes before surgery, doctors gave 54 children a prescription sedative before putting them under anesthesia, then gave an iPad loaded with games to 58 children 20 minutes before surgery.

The study found the anxiety of the children, and their parents, was numbed the same amount, whether the kids took the drugs or the iPad. Both parents and nurses from the iPad group were more satisfied, and rated the ease of administering anesthesia higher.

"Better than a sedative" probably isn't the catch phrase that will sell many iPads, but for some parents anything to make a stressful situation easier can go a long ways.

Scroll through to learn about the weirdest things people do in their sleep:

More in lifestyle:
The Mediterranean diet could prolong your life
Pizza actually has a positive effect on your productivity
Scary long-term damages of tattoo ink on your body