Just 1 Week Away from Phones, Laptops Can Ward Off Sleep Problems in Teens

Too much screen time is bad for teens. However, staying away from mobile phones, laptops, and tablets for just one week can help them sleep well and reduce symptoms of fatigue, lack of concentration and bad mood, reveals a new study.

Highlights:

Too much screen time often triggers sleep problems in most teenagers
Exposure to harmful blue light emitted by electronic devices such as mobile phones, tablets and laptops can affect the brain's clock and the production of the sleep hormone melatonin, thereby resulting in disrupted sleep time and quality
Living in a busy world, teenagers today need more sleep than they think
Therefore, putting away your phones, laptops, and tablets for a week can make you sleep well

Spending more time in front of digital devices such as mobile phones, computers, laptops, and tablets can cause sleep problems, especially in teens. Therefore, limiting screen time for just one week can help teens sleep better, reports a new study. //

Sleep in teenagers can be improved by just one week of limiting their evening exposure to light-emitting screens on phones, tablets, and computers, according to findings to be presented in Lyon, at the European Society of Endocrinology annual meeting, ECE 2019.

Poor Sleep May Up Obesity Risk
Poor sleep or working night shifts may increase the risk of obesity and diabetes. Lack of adequate sleep can make you gain weight, look fat, tired and weak.

‘Too much screen time is bad for teens. Therefore, staying away from mobile phones, laptops, and tablets for just one week can help today's youngsters sleep better and boost their health and wellbeing.’
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The study indicates that by simply limiting their exposure to blue-light emitting devices in the evening, adolescents can improve their sleep quality and reduce symptoms of fatigue, lack of concentration and bad mood, after just one week.

What are the risks of too much screen time?

Recent studies have indicated that exposure to too much evening light, particularly the blue light emitted from screens on smartphones, tablets and computers can affect the brain's clock and the production of the sleep hormone melatonin, resulting in disrupted sleep time and quality. The lack of sleep doesn't just cause immediate symptoms of tiredness and poor concentration but can also increase the risk of more serious long-term health issues such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease.

Sleep - Overview and Definition
Sleep is a behavioral state of restricted physical activity. It is controlled by our internal biological clock.

Other studies have suggested that sleep deprivation related to screen time may affect children and adolescents more than adults, but no studies have fully investigated how real-life exposure is affecting sleep in adolescents at home and whether it can be reversed.

Details of the Study

Screen Time in the Dark Before Bedtime Puts Your Children at Risk of Poor Sleep
Children are more likely to experience sleep disturbances when they watch TV or use a mobile phone in the dark an hour before bed which may also increase their risk of anxiety and obesity.

In this collaborative study between the Netherlands Institute of Neuroscience, the Amsterdam UMC and the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, researchers investigated the effects of blue light exposure on adolescents at home. Those who had more than 4 hours per day of screen time had on average 30 minutes later sleep onset and wake up times than those who recorded less than 1 hour per day of screen time, as well as more symptoms of sleep loss.

The team conducted a randomized controlled trial to assess the effects of blocking blue light with glasses and no screen time during the evening on the sleep pattern of 25 frequent users. Both blocking blue light with glasses and screen abstinence resulted in sleep onset and wake up times occurring 20 minutes earlier, and a reduction in reported symptoms of sleep loss in participants, after just one week.

Screen Time Linked to Behavioral Problems
Among preschoolers, screen time was found to be linked to behavioral problems.

Findings of the Study

Dr. Dirk Jan Stenvers from the Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism of the Amsterdam UMC says, "Adolescents increasingly spend more time on devices with screens and sleep complaints are frequent in this age group. Here we show very simply that these sleep complaints can be easily reversed by minimizing evening screen use or exposure to blue light. Based on our data, it is likely that adolescent sleep complaints and delayed sleep onset are at least partly mediated by blue light from screens"

Dr. Stenvers and his colleagues are now interested in whether the relationship between reduced screen time and improved sleep has longer lasting effects, and whether the same effects can be detected in adults.

Dr. Stenvers comments, "Sleep disturbances start with minor symptoms of tiredness and poor concentration, but in the long-term, we know that sleep loss is associated with increased risk of obesity, diabetes and heart disease. If we can introduce simple measures now to tackle this issue, we can avoid greater health problems in years to come."

Source-Eurekalert