On January 12, 2018, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, USA, people experience the curved high-definition screen corridor in the LG exhibition hall. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Ying.
BEIJING, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- It is well known that spending too much time on screens can affect sleep. A new U.S. study found that interactive screen time, such as chatting and playing video games, had a particularly significant impact on teens' sleep delay and duration compared to passive screen time such as watching TV.
Researchers from Pennsylvania State University in the United States recently published in the international journal "Journal of Adolescent Health" that for 15-year-olds, using a screen to interact with friends or play video games an hour before bed will cause them to spend about 30 minutes more to fall asleep than if they did not have interactive screen time before bedtime.
In addition, the researchers also found that not only did interactive screen time before bed have an impact on teens' sleep, but the length of screen time they spent during the day also affected sleep at night.
The research team tracked 475 adolescents' daytime screen use through questionnaires, including emailing, texting, socializing, playing video games, and watching TV. The researchers monitored the teens' activity or sleep by having them wear wrist-measuring instruments.
Activity data shows that 77% of teens' screen activities include using interactions** (texting, games, etc.) in the hour before bedtime, and 69% of teens' activities include watching TV or movies. They sleep an average of 78 hours.
Studies have found that interactive screen time is less conducive to sleep than passive** screens. During the day, for every hour a teen spends texting or playing games beyond their usual use, there is a sleep delay of about 10 minutes. If these interactive screen activities occurred within an hour of bedtime, they would fall asleep about 30 minutes later on average.
Researchers say how to help teens manage screen time is a tricky question for parents. "However, if parents are genuinely concerned about teen health, perhaps the focus should be on limiting more interactive screen time, especially the hour before bedtime. ”