Smartphone Usage Leads to Less Sleep for Teens

According to one particular study, more teenagers are sleeping fewer than seven hours per night as a result of their smartphones. These results point to an increase in adolescents’ use of screen time before sleep that has occurred between 2009 and 2015.

Key Findings:

·       More adolescents in 2015 compared to 2009 slept less than 7 hours a night on most nights.

·       Electronic device and social media use increased from 2009–2015.

·       Electronic device and social media use increases the odds of short sleep duration.

·       Smartphones may be the cause of the increase in self-reported short sleep duration.

Given the results from this study, public health interventions should consider electronic device use as a target of intervention to improve adolescent health and education.

Twenge, J. M. (2017). Decreases in self-reported sleep duration among U.S. adolescents 2009–2015 and association with new media screen time. Sleep Medicine, (39), 47-53. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2017.08.013