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Electronic use during day, before bed increases risk for sleep deficiency
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Data published in BMJ Open indicate adolescents spend a significant amount of time during the day and at bedtime using electronic devices that negatively affects their sleep.
“Electronic devices have become an integral part of adolescent life, as exemplified by almost all American adolescents (97%) reporting to have at least one electronic media device in their bedroom,” study researcher Mari Hysing, PsyD, of the Regional Centre for Child and Youth Mental Health and Child Welfare, Uni Research Health in Bergen, Norway, and colleagues wrote. “Parallel with the increased use of electronic devices, there has been a shift toward poorer sleep over the past decades among adolescents. Recent epidemiological data on adolescent sleep shows that it is characterized, on average, by late bedtime, long sleep onset latency (SOL) and short sleep duration of approximately 6.5 hours on weekdays, contributing to daily sleep deficiency of about 2 hours.”
In the cross-sectional, population-based study, researchers used data from the youth@hordaland survey to assess prevalence of mental health issues and electronic device use among Norwegians born from 1993 to 1995 who attended secondary education in 2012. The cohort included 10,220 adolescents (mean age, 17 years; 53.5% female). Participants reported using six different electronic devices, and when they used them, it was typically before bed and upon waking up.
Most participants used electronics within 1 hour of going to sleep. Males more commonly used game consoles; females reported higher use of cellphones and MP3 players (P < .001).
Use of computers, cellphones, MP3 players, tablets, consoles and televisions was associated with increased risk for delayed sleep onset of at least 60 minutes. Use of electronic devices for more than 4 hours after school was linked to long SOL (OR = 1.49; 95% CI, 1.36-1.64).
When analyzing each electronic device separately, all daytime screen use beyond 2 hours was significantly associated with delayed sleep onset.
Daytime screen use that exceeded 4 hours was associated with an increased risk for getting less than 5 hours of sleep (OR = 3.64; 95% CI, 3.06-4.33) vs. getting 7 to 8 hours of sleep (OR = 1.29; 95% CI, 1.12-1.49).
Adolescents using four devices or more had an increased risk for SOL of at least 60 minutes compared with adolescents who used only one device (OR = 1.26; 95% CI, 1.07-1.49).
“The recommendations for healthy media use given to parents and adolescents need updating, and age-specific guidelines regarding quantity and timing of electronic media use should be developed and made known to the public,” Hysing and colleagues wrote. “It seems, however, that there may be other electronic devices exerting the same negative influence on sleep, such as PCs and mobile phones. The results confirm recommendations for restricting media use in general.” – by Amanda Oldt
Disclosure: The study was funded by Uni Research Health and Norwegian Directorate for Health and Social Affairs. The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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