There’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, SnapChat, TikTok and the list goes on. We are online just about every part of our day. Whether we are working, checking email or mindlessly scrolling through social media, it is hard to disconnect. While being on social media is a normal activity, it is important to be mindful of what time you are searching. If it is at nighttime, searching social media can actually disrupt your sleep.
What’s the deal with nighttime social media use?
Research looking at more than 800 freshman college students who use social media analyzed the differences in the characteristics of poor and good sleepers. They also estimated the relative risk of poor sleep quality in relation to patterns of social media use.
What they found is that 75% of those college freshman reported poor quality sleep. More than 66% of males compared to 79% of females had poor sleep quality. Then, looking at physical activity, 67% of those who were active experienced poor sleep while 82% who were less active exhibited poor sleep. This was also seen in those who were experiencing depression.
However, poor sleep quality was lower among students who used social media for education, used their laptop more and had higher social media use during the day. The risk of poor sleep quality was also higher among those who used social media at nighttime more often than any other time during the day.
As a result of poor quality sleep, individuals can experience sociodemographic features, lifestyle characteristics and health-risk factors. To learn more about what you can do to improve your sleep, contact Dr. Patel at Craniofacial Pain and Dental Sleep Center of Georgia for more information. We can help you get the sleep you need to feel better.
