Abstract
Nocturnal media use has been linked to adolescents’ sleeping problems in cross-sectional studies which do not address reverse causality. To prospectively assess the new occurrence of sleep problems or health symptoms in relation to electronic media use and nocturnal mobile phone use, we used data from the longitudinal Swiss HERMES (Health Effects Related to Mobile phone usE in adolescentS) cohort on 843 children from 7th to 9th grade. Logistic regression models were fitted and adjusted for relevant confounders. Adolescents reporting at baseline and follow-up at least one nocturnal awakenings from their own mobile phone per month were more likely to have developed restless sleep (Odds Ratio (OR): 5.66, 95% Confidence Interval: 2.24–14.26) and problems falling asleep (3.51, 1.05–11.74) within one year compared to adolescents without nocturnal awakenings. A similar pattern was observed for developing symptoms, although somewhat less pronounced in terms of the magnitude of the odds ratios. With respect to high screen time at baseline and follow-up, associations were observed for falling asleep (2.41, 1.41–4.13), exhaustibility (1.76, 1.02–3.03), lack of energy (1.76, 1.04–2.96) and lack of concentration (2.90, 1.55–5.42). Our results suggest a detrimental effect of screen time and mobile phone-related awakenings on sleep problems and related health symptoms. However, the results should be interpreted cautiously with respect to adolescents’ natural changes in circadian rhythm, which may coincidence with an increase in mobile phone and media use.
Highlights
Sleep problems in adolescents have been increasing during the last decades [1,2]
Using data from the longitudinal HERMES (Health Effects Related to Mobile phone usE in adolescentS) cohort study, we examined the effect of nocturnal mobile phone-related awakenings and screen time on adolescents’
We found consistently elevated odds of developing various sleep problems and general health symptoms over one year for adolescents who report nocturnal mobile phone-related awakenings or high amounts of screen time
Summary
TV, playing video games or using the mobile phone [8] To explain this association, different operating mechanisms are discussed. The compensation hypothesis explains sleep deprivation through longer waking hours due to the time spent on the devices, and consecutive delayed sleep onset focuses on media use before bedtime and during the night [9]. In line with this explanation, the presence of digital devices in adolescents’ bedrooms was observed to be associated with altered bedtime, less sleep efficiency, bedtime resistance or sleep anxiety [10,11,12].
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