The researchers looked at the average time spent on social media per day, as well as at per week.
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“This is one of the first pieces of evidence that social media use really can impact your sleep”, said lead author Jessica Levenson, a postdoctoral researcher in the university’s department of psychiatry.
The participants spent an average of 61 minutes per day using social media, and visited social media around 30 times per week.
“Difficulty sleeping may lead to increased use of social media, which may in turn lead to more problems sleeping”.
Nevertheless, a single study may not be enough to convince people to spend less time on social media and try other alternatives for a better sleep.
Nevertheless, a single study may not be enough to convince people to spend less time on social media and try other alternatives for a better sleep. However, it is definitely an interesting start to research that will inevitably find that our lives are all being ruined by reading posts by my dumb cousin on Twitter.
Millions of Americans (roughly 50 to 70 million adults have sleep or wakefulness disorders) already get insufficient sleep – an issue that the CDC calls a “public health problem” and notes that it is “linked to motor vehicle crashes, industrial disasters and medical and other occupational errors”.
What they found was that individuals who checked their social media more frequently were three times as likely to suffer from sleep disturbance, and users who checked more often during the day were twice as likely to have troubled sleep compared to those who didn’t use it as much.
This study recommends that when doctors are faced with patients’ problem about sleep, they should ask their patients about their social media usage.
Suffering from sleep disturbances?
Although many factors feed into sleep disturbance in young adults, little is known about social media and its association with sleep disturbance.
Researchers suggest that further studies are required to determine whether social media use actually lead sleep disturbance and if yes, then to what extent?
Promoting emotional, cognitive or physiological arousal, such as when engaging in a contentious discussion on Facebook.
Young adults aged 18-29, however, are the largest social media group; 90% of people in this age group use some form of social media.
Or the bright lights from tablets and smartphones could disrupt the body clock.
Senior author Dr. Brian A. Primack says more research is warranted to know which contributes to which.
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So, in theory, there might be a totally different reason that causes both extensive social media use and trouble sleeping, or the opposite of the premise might be valid – that sleep disturbances lead to excessive social media use.
