More than half of teens use them in bed: How using screens before bed is disrupting your kids' sleep ?

Comment l’utilisation des écrans au lit perturbe le sommeil des adolescents

Une étude récente de l'Université d'Otago en Nouvelle-Zélande remet en question les idées reçues sur l'impact des écrans sur le sommeil des jeunes.

Contrary to current recommendations that recommend turning off screens one to two hours before bedtime, this research reveals that it is the use of screens once in bed that really disrupts adolescents' sleep.

Screen use is an integral part of adolescents' routines. A habit that should not go beyond the threshold of the bedroom once evening falls.

99% of them use them in bed

A New Zealand team followed 85 adolescents aged 11 to 14 for a week. Participants wore a camera on their chest three hours before bedtime, while an infrared camera was placed in their bedroom to capture their screen time in bed. Finally, they wore a device that measured their sleep.

As a result, it quickly became clear that adolescents spent a large proportion of their time in front of a screen in the evening and once in bed:

99% used screens in the two hours before bedtime; More than half of them used screens once in bed; A third used them again after trying to fall asleep.

A 30-minute delay in falling asleep

Surprisingly, screen use before bed had little impact on sleep. In contrast, use in bed delayed falling asleep by about 30 minutes and reduced total sleep time. More interactive activities, such as video games or "multi-screen" (playing games while watching a series) were particularly problematic.

For the authors, using a device in bed can cause more harm than exposure to blue light and screen time until bedtime. Their recommendations are therefore "simple": keep devices out of the bedroom. This would allow teenagers to use their phones before bed, but not in bed.