Just One Hour Of Social Media A Day Is Enough To Affect Your Sleep

Startling research


Article heading image for Just One Hour Of Social Media A Day Is Enough To Affect Your Sleep

If you find it hard to sleep after a busy day of scrolling, it could be that your social media habits are sapping away at your sleeping pattern.

New research has shown that an hour of social media consumption a day is enough to affect one's ability to have a good eight hours of sleep.

The report by Canadian researchers shows that those who spent 60 minutes on WhatsApp, Facebook or Snapchat had more sleep issues than those who did not.

Senior author Dr Jean-Philippe Chaput of the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute said that this has substantial flow-on effects.

"Sleep is an essential component of healthy development and an important contributor to physical health and mental health," Dr Chaput said.

"We observed that social media use was associated with greater odds of short sleep duration in a dose-response manner.

"Importantly, significant associations were found when social media use exceeded one hour per day, suggesting that even this level of social media may be negatively associated with sleep duration.

"Although females spent significantly more time using social media than males, the relationship between the use of social media and sleep duration did not differ by sex.

"The impact social media can have on sleep patterns is a topic of great interest given the well-known adverse effects of sleep deprivation on health.

"Electronic screen devices are pervasive in today's society and we are just starting to understand their risks and benefits."

25 January 2018




Listen Live!

Up Next