Using screens for one hour after going to bed can increase your risk of insomnia by 59%, scientists found

Scientists have found another reason to put down the phone: A survey of 45,202 young people in Norway found that using screens in bed increases your risk of insomnia by 59% and reduces your sleep time by 24 minutes. However, social media was not found to be more destructive than other screen activities.

“The type of screen activity does not seem to be important as the overall time spent using screens in bed,” said Dr. Gunnhild Johnsen Hjetland of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. Field of Psychiatry. “We found no significant difference between social media and other screen activity, suggesting that screen usage itself is a key factor in sleep disruption – possibly due to time displacement, where delayed sleep in screen usage is by spending time to rest.”

Do you sleep tightly at night?

Sleep is essential to our physical and mental health, but many of us are physically inadequate. At the same time, more and more people are accustomed to using screens in bed, which may be related to poor sleep. Screen usage is thought to affect sleep in four ways: notifications interfere with sleep, screen time replaces sleep time, screen activity keeps you awake, so it takes longer to fall asleep, otherwise exposure delays the circadian rhythm.

“Sleep problems are very common among students and have important implications for mental health, academic performance and overall well-being, but previous research has focused primarily on adolescents,” Hjetland said. “Given the widespread use of screens in bed, we aim to explore the relationship between different screen activities and sleep patterns. We hope that social media use may have a stronger potential for interaction and emotional stimulation that is poorer sleep.”

To investigate, scientists used the 2022 Student Health and Welfare Survey, a nationally representative Norwegian student study. They reached 45,202 participants and received full-time higher education between the ages of 18 and 28.

They first asked the participants to say whether the screen was used after sleeping and how long it lasted. They then asked participants to identify activities of their choice: watching shows or movies, games, social media, browsing the internet, listening to podcasts and other audio or reading material related to learning.

Participants were also asked to report how long they went to bed and when they went up, how long they fell or fell asleep, how often they felt sleepy during the day, and how long the sleep problems lasted. Insomnia is defined as sleep difficulties and daytime sleep problems at least three times during the three months.

The scientists then divided the answers into three categories: participants said they used social media only, one participant did not mention social media, and one participant chose several activities including social media.

All night

Scientists found that increasing bedtime after one hour increased the chance of insomnia symptoms and reduced sleep duration by 24 minutes. However, using social media is not more harmful than other screen activities. There is no significant interaction between the time of screen use and the choice of activity, suggesting that the activity itself does not affect the time people stay awake. This suggests that screens reduce sleep time because they replace rest, not because they increase awakening: different activities are expected to affect awakening in different ways.

“If you are struggling with sleep and suspect screen time may be a factor, try reducing screen usage in your bed, ideally stopping at least 30-60 minutes before sleep,” Hjetland advises. “If you do use the screen, consider disabling notifications to minimize distractions at night.”

However, scientists warn that their research focuses on a culture. There may be significant differences in the relationship between screen use and global sleep. Additionally, to compare social media usage with other screen activities, certain activities that may have different effects on sleep (such as listening to music or games) are included in one category.

“This study cannot determine causality, for example, whether screen use can lead to insomnia or insomnia use screening more,” Hjetland noted. “The study does not include physiological assessments, which can provide more precise insights into how sleep is done.”