March 28, 2024

Optimizing Teen Sleep – Scientists Reveal the Secret

To enhance sleep, a brand-new study suggests teens keep screens outside the bedroom, turn off device notices, prevent social media usage in bed, and refrain from examining phones if they get up during the night. Moms and dads, on the other hand, should understand the midpoint of social media and smartphones in their childs developmental procedure and preserve an active existence.
Current studies reveal that teenagers who avoid having screens in their bedrooms, disable notifications, and abstain from utilizing social media while in bed experience boosted sleep quality.
A week following the American Psychological Associations health advisory concerning adolescent usage of social media, the US Surgeon General also released an advisory on the implications of social networks on the mental health of youths. Both advisories made it clear that there may be a connection in between extreme social media use and disturbed sleep patterns amongst teenagers. Because of these findings, what steps can both moms and dads and teenagers adopt to promote better sleep?
A new research study released in the journal Sleep Health provides important insight into screen-related behaviors that are connected with enhanced sleep.

A week following the American Psychological Associations health advisory regarding adolescent use of social media, the US Surgeon General also released an advisory on the implications of social media on the psychological health of young people. Both advisories made it clear that there might be a correlation between excessive social media use and disrupted sleep patterns among teens. “Our research study found that keeping screens outside of the bedroom, turning off device notifications, and avoiding social media usage in bed is associated with much better sleep among adolescents. If you wake up throughout the night, do not utilize your phone or engage with social media. The teenagers and their parents responded to concerns about their sleep routines and youth were asked about their screen and social media use at bedtime.

Keep screens outside of the bed room. Having a TV set or internet-connected device in the bed room was associated with a 27% greater danger of having trouble falling or staying asleep.
Turn off the ringer and notices. Leaving the phone ringer on was associated with a 23% greater danger of having difficulty falling or staying asleep compared to turning it off. 16.9% of adolescents reported having a phone call, text message, or e-mail wake them up after trying to go to sleep in the past week.
Dont utilize social networks or other electronic devices before going to sleep. Utilizing social media, chatting on the internet, playing video games, browsing the web, and watching or streaming films, videos, or TV shows while in bed before sleeping were all connected with trouble falling or remaining asleep.
If you get up throughout the night, dont utilize your phone or engage with social media. One-fifth of adolescents reported that they utilized their phone or other gadget after awakening throughout the night in the previous week. This was associated with a 34% higher threat of sleep troubles.

” Getting enough sleep is important for teens due to the fact that it assists their body and mind grow and establish appropriately,” states lead author Jason Nagata, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco. “Our research study discovered that keeping screens outside of the bed room, turning off gadget notifications, and avoiding social media use in bed is connected with better sleep among adolescents. If you get up during the night, dont check your phone or social networks.”

The adolescents and their parents responded to questions about their sleep habits and youth were asked about their screen and social media use at bedtime. 16.9% reported being woken up by phone calls, text messages, or e-mails while sleeping at least when in the past week. 20.0% reported utilizing their phone or another device if they woke up overnight.
” Adolescents may be hypervigilant to the noises of phone notices and immediately awaken to the noise of their phone,” stated Nagata.
” Adolescent development is a tough time for many given the social pressures and physical, mental, and psychological modifications that occur,” stated co-author, Kyle T. Ganson, Ph.D., MSW, assistant teacher at the University of Torontos Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work.
” Understanding the midpoint of social networks and smartphones to this developmental process, and being present, is vital for parents to their child.”
Reference: “Bedtime screen usage behaviors and sleep outcomes: Findings from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study” by Jason M. Nagata, Gurbinder Singh, Joanne H. Yang, Natalia Smith, Orsolya Kiss, Kyle T. Ganson, Alexander Testa, Dylan B. Jackson and Fiona C. Baker, 23 April 2023, Sleep Health.DOI: 10.1016/ j.sleh.2023.02.005.
The research study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.