Teens who spend 3 hours a day on social media ‘struggle to sleep’
KIDS are twice as likely to suffer from poor sleep if they spend their days glued to social media, a study warns.
Children who fail to get enough nightime rest perform worse in school and have poorer mental health.
Now Glasgow University research shows heavy users of sites such as Facebook and Twitter were 114 per cent more likely to stay up past 11pm during the week.
And their risk of sleeping in on a school day was 97 per cent higher compared to average users.
They were also a third more likely to struggle to drift off if they woke up at night. Experts said girls tended to spend more time on social media than boys and reported poorer sleep quality overall.
The study, published in the journal BMJ Open, analysed data on nearly 12,000 kids aged between 13 and 15.
Lead researcher Holly Scott, from Glasgow University, said the findings “provide robust evidence on associations between social media use and sleep outcomes”.
The study concluded: “These findings are consistent with the idea that social media displaces sleep: either directly or indirectly.”
Experts found 34 per cent of kids were low users, spending less than an hour a day on social media.
Around 32 per cent were average users – one to three hours daily online – and 14 per cent were high users, spending three to five hours daily on sites like Instagram.
POOR SLEEP
A further 21 per cent were very high users, and glued to social media for five hours or more each day.
Scientists found the more time kids spent communicating online, the worse their slumber. While those who spent the least amount of time on social media enjoyed the best quality sleep.
Child health experts said kids should stay off their phones and tablets for at least an hour before bed so they can “wind down”.
Dr Max Davie, from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said: “Lack of sleep can have a significant negative impact not only on young people’s wellbeing, but on their relationships with family and friends and in terms of reaching their full potential at school.”
Commenting on the study, Dr Bernadka Dubicka, from the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said it provided further evidence that social media leads to poor sleep.
But warned it may not trigger mental health issues. Instead, depressed young people may increasingly turn to social media late into the night.
A spokesperson for Facebook said it has introduced a number of measures to protect young people’s wellbeing. They include alerts telling users how long they have spent on the platform and limiting notifications.
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She said: “It is important to us that the time people spend on Facebook is meaningful.”
A study earlier this year found being glued to social media raises children’s risk of mental health problems by up to half.
Teenage girls who check Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat weekly had a 20 per cent risk of psychological distress.
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