Study Finds Bedtime Screen Use Raises Insomnia Risk by 59 Percent
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Scientists have found another reason to put the phone down: a survey of 45,202 young adults in Norway has discovered that using a screen in bed drives up your risk of insomnia up by 59% and cuts your sleep time by 24 minutes. However, social media was not found to be more disruptive than other screen activities.
Sleep is critical to our mental and physical health, but many of us don’t get enough. At the same time, an increasing number of people are accustomed to using screens in bed, which may be associated with poor sleep. Screen use is thought to impact sleep in four ways: notifications disturb sleep, screen time replaces sleeping time, screen activities keep you wakeful so you take longer to fall asleep, or light exposure delays circadian rhythms.
To investigate, the scientists reached 45,202 participants in full-time higher education, aged between 18-28 years old.
Participants were also asked to report their bedtime and rising time, as well as how long it took them to fall asleep, how often they had trouble falling or staying asleep, how often they felt sleepy during the day, and how long their sleep problems persisted. Insomnia was defined as trouble sleeping and daytime sleepiness issues at least three times a week over at least three months.
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