Poor Sleep Linked to an Increase in Social Media Use in Teens

A new study presented at the SLEEP 2024 annual meeting discovered a hyperlink in between sleep duration, social media usage, and brain activation in places accountable for executive handle and reward processing in young folks.

As a element of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, the researchers analyzed information from adolescents aged 10-14 employing questionnaires. They measured their brain activity employing a functional MRI throughout a reward-processing activity. The study applied a number of models and adjusted for aspects like age, the COVID-19 pandemic, and socio-demographic qualities.

The study discovered that the frontolimbic regions of the brain, especially the inferior and middle frontal gyri, played a considerable part in how teens handle social media engagement and sleep.. The inferior frontal gyrus aids regulate engagement with rewarding stimuli like social media, while the middle frontal gyrus is vital for selection-producing connected to balancing rewards from social media and sleep.

The study also discovered that teenagers who slept significantly less than their counterparts tended to have a larger use of social media. The researchers also recommend that poor sleep and higher social media use could alter neural reward sensitivity throughout adolescence, influencing brain improvement.

Dr Orsolya Kiss, a cognitive psychology researcher at SRI International, noted that understanding these interactions can assist determine the dangers and advantages of digital engagement on adolescent brain improvement.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) recommends 8-10 hours of sleep for teenagers and advises disconnecting from electronic devices 30-60 minutes prior to bedtime.

The want for great sleep is a worldwide issue in modern day life and has a considerable overall health effect. Sleep is critical for great physical and mental overall health and top quality of life. But our modern day 24-hour society with continual access to facts and stimulation may well contribute to insufficient sleep. There is considerable proof that inadequate sleep causes a lot of adverse healthcare and mental anomalies.

Read additional about the hyperlink in between sleep and mental overall health in this weblog.