Study Finds Bedtime Screen Use Raises Insomnia Risk by 59 Percent
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.
The scientists then sorted responses into three categories: one where participants said they only used social media, one where participants did not mention social media, and one where participants selected several activities, including social media.
The scientists found that increasing screen time after bedtime by one hour increased the odds of insomnia symptoms by 59% and lowered sleep duration by 24 minutes. However, using social media wasn’t more detrimental than other screen activities. There was no significant interaction between the time spent using a screen and the choice of activity, suggesting that the activity itself didn’t affect the amount of time people stayed awake. This indicates that screens reduce sleep time because they displace rest, not because they increase wakefulness: different activities would be expected to affect wakefulness differently.
The scientists cautioned, however, that their study focuses on a single culture. There could be notable differences in the relationship between screen use and sleep globally. Additionally, to compare social media use with other screen activities, some activities which could have different effects on sleep — such as listening to music or gaming — were included in a single category.
Ref: How and when screens are used: Comparing different screen activities and sleep in Norwegian university students” 31 March 2025, Frontiers in Psychiatry.
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1548273
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