Young adults who spend a lot of time on social media during the day are more likely to suffer sleep disturbances, according to research from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
The study indicates GPs should consider asking young patients about social media habits when assessing sleep issues.
According to Science Daily, Jessica Levenson, a postdoctoral researcher at the university's psychiatry department, and her colleagues sampled 1 788 US adults ages 19 through 32. They used questionnaires to determine social media use and an established measurement system to assess sleep disturbances.
The questionnaires asked about the 11 most popular social media platforms at the time of the study, in 2014: Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Google Plus, Instagram, Snapchat, Reddit, Tumblr, Pinterest, Vine and LinkedIn.
On average, the participants used social media a total of 61 minutes per day and visited various social media accounts 30 times per week. The assessment showed nearly 30% of participants had high levels of sleep disturbance.
The participants who reported most frequently checking social media throughout the week had three times the likelihood of sleep disturbances, compared with those who checked least frequently.
"This may indicate that frequency of social media visits is a better predictor of sleep difficulty than overall time spent on social media," Levenson explained. "If this is the case, then interventions that counter obsessive 'checking' behaviour may be most effective."
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