have sleep disorders •

"A man in bed at night checking his social media accounts because of insomnia"

Experts recommend that people exercise more and keep their devices on “silent mode”.

STATES CHRONICLE – According to the latest study from the Pittsburgh University, insomnia is linked to social media use. The researchers have established that people who spend their time on social media platforms before going to bed have a bigger chance of developing sleep problems that those who don’t. Also, it seems that the same health issues apply to those who use social media frequently during the day.

A team of researchers from the Pittsburgh University reached the conclusion that insomnia is linked to social media use after studying a sample of 1,788 volunteers with ages in between 19 and 32. The participants were given a questionnaire that was created to determine the link between the use of social media and the increasing numbers of sleep disorders.

The survey focused on the most popular platforms for social media and the time that each respondent spent on a daily, or weekly basis on the site. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Google Plus, Reddit, Snapchat, LinkedIn, Vibe, and Tumblr were all included in the questionnaire.

The average responded spent approximately 61 minutes in a day on one, or more platforms, and visited the respective account an average of thirty times in a single week. According to their answers, more than 30 percent of the participants in the study suffered from a sort of sleep disturbance.

Upon analyzing all of the answers, the researchers from Pittsburgh University came to the conclusion that the more time the participants spent on the platforms for social media, the more trouble they had with their sleep. The team established that those who used social media more had three times the chances of experiencing sleep disturbances than those who preferred to check their accounts more rarely.

On the other hand, the volunteers that engaged in exercises and physical activities in the outdoor environment while keeping their phones on the “silent” mode experienced a better sleep.

There are many ways in which social media can disturb the sleeping pattern of a user. It could disrupt the circadian rhythm due to the backlight of the devices used, the user can spend hours on a site without realizing the amount of time that has passed, thus losing sleep, or it could promote physiological, emotional and cognitive arousal like in the case of an engaging conversation.

The main problem is that the people usually enter a vicious cycle that cannot be easily escaped. They seem to have trouble going to sleep so they decide to go on their social media accounts to pass the time until they feel sleepy, but that only makes them stay up later.

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According to a research study published in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research journal poor sleep in the years of adolescence could be an early hint to future illicit drug use, alcohol problems, and a sexual behavior that can be “regretful” in the following years of adulthood.

Prof Maria Wong, Idaho State University, led a team of US scientists for the project. The researchers found that adolescents who have sleep disorders or bad habits related to sleep were having a higher chance to engage in behaviors risky to their health in the years to come than the teenagers that had a soundly sleep. The researchers say that teenagers’ parents should pay attention to their children’s sleep schedules. Other research suggests a good night’s sleep is the key to making good judgments.

Scientists analyzed a set of data that came from studying over 6,500 teens in the United States. They tracked the patterns of sleep, drug use and alcohol in a survey throughout the United States conducted in three groups, from 1994 to 2002. The people whose night sleep was disorganized faced a bigger risk to have drug and alcohol problems.

The researchers wanted to investigate if insufficient or poor sleep can be linked to future such problems in the teenagers’ life.

Teens which said they have sleep problems that occurred at least one time a week faced a risk related to alcohol consumption, a sexual behavior later regretted, or use illicit drugs in the following years.

When the sleep problem was greater, the link seemed to be even stronger. Teenagers with sleep problems that occurred almost daily were having a higher risk up to 33 percent to experience issues like alcohol, drugs or inappropriate sexual behavior than the ones who didn’t face those sleep problems.

Researchers found that the pattern was more and more visible when the teenagers reported less and less hours of sleep. Their risks regarding the above mentioned problems were greater.

An hour of sleep over the average suggested that it could offer protection. For every additional hour there was recorded a decrease in the risk to engage alcohol, drug related problems or a regrettable sexual behavior.

Professor Maria Wong said that we do not value sleep as an important factor. But the study’s results point to the fact that serious problems which appear over the years are influenced by it.
Image Source: BBC

Poor Sleep For Teenagers May Trigger Drink And Drug Issues

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