Screen time in bed linked to worse sleep, study finds

People who spend more time looking at a screen in bed are more likely to report insomnia and sleep loss, a study has found.

The research is based on a Norwegian survey of more than 45,000 students.

It indicates that each additional hour of screen time was linked to a 63% increase in insomnia risk, and 24 minutes less sleep.

However, the researchers said they had only established a correlation between screen use and lower sleep quality and had not demonstrated that the former caused the latter.

Experts say putting down your phone before bed, doing something relaxing and establishing a routine may help improve sleep.

The researchers behind the study, based on nationally representative survey data of 18-28 year old students gathered in 2022, wanted to examine the link between the amount of time spent using screens in bed and sleep patterns.

They also sought to probe the impact on sleep of using social media compared to other screen activities.

Dr Gunnhild Johnsen Hjetland of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, who is lead author of the research - which was published in a Frontiers journal - said the type of screen activity appeared to be less impactful than screen time on the whole.

"We found no significant differences between social media and other screen activities, suggesting that screen use itself is the key factor in sleep disruption," he said.