Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Feb 2;5(1):e006748.
doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2014-006748.

Sleep and use of electronic devices in adolescence: results from a large population-based study

Mari Hysing  1 , Ståle Pallesen  2 , Kjell Morten Stormark  1 , Reidar Jakobsen  1 , Astri J Lundervold  3 , Børge Sivertsen  4
Affiliations

Sleep and use of electronic devices in adolescence: results from a large population-based study

Mari Hysing et al. BMJ Open. .

Abstract

Objectives: Adolescents spend increasingly more time on electronic devices, and sleep deficiency rising in adolescents constitutes a major public health concern. The aim of the present study was to investigate daytime screen use and use of electronic devices before bedtime in relation to sleep.

Design: A large cross-sectional population-based survey study from 2012, the youth@hordaland study, in Hordaland County in Norway.

Setting: Cross-sectional general community-based study.

Participants: 9846 adolescents from three age cohorts aged 16-19. The main independent variables were type and frequency of electronic devices at bedtime and hours of screen-time during leisure time.

Outcomes: Sleep variables calculated based on self-report including bedtime, rise time, time in bed, sleep duration, sleep onset latency and wake after sleep onset.

Results: Adolescents spent a large amount of time during the day and at bedtime using electronic devices. Daytime and bedtime use of electronic devices were both related to sleep measures, with an increased risk of short sleep duration, long sleep onset latency and increased sleep deficiency. A dose-response relationship emerged between sleep duration and use of electronic devices, exemplified by the association between PC use and risk of less than 5 h of sleep (OR=2.70, 95% CI 2.14 to 3.39), and comparable lower odds for 7-8 h of sleep (OR=1.64, 95% CI 1.38 to 1.96).

Conclusions: Use of electronic devices is frequent in adolescence, during the day as well as at bedtime. The results demonstrate a negative relation between use of technology and sleep, suggesting that recommendations on healthy media use could include restrictions on electronic devices.

Keywords: EPIDEMIOLOGY; adolescents; media use; sleep.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Use of electronic devices during the last hour before bedtime among girls and boys in the youth@hordaland study (n=9846). Error bars represent 95% CIs.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Average daytime screen use among girls and boys in the youth@hordaland study (n=9846). Error bars represent 95% CIs.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Sleep duration and hours of screen use among adolescents in the youth@hordaland study (n=9846).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. National Sleep Foundation: Sleep In America Poll. http://wwwsleepfoundationorg/article/sleep-america-polls/2006-teens-and-.... vol. 2006; 2006.
    1. Van den Bulck J. Text messaging as a cause of sleep interruption in adolescents, evidence from a cross-sectional study. J Sleep Res 2003;12:263 10.1046/j.1365-2869.2003.00362.x - DOI - PubMed
    1. Pallesen S, Hetland J, Sivertsen B et al. . Time trends in sleep-onset difficulties among Norwegian adolescents: 1983–2005. Scand J Public Health 2008;36:889–95. 10.1177/1403494808095953 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Hysing M, Pallesen S, Stormark KM et al. . Sleep patterns and insomnia among adolescents: a population-based study. J Sleep Res 2013;22:549–56. 10.1111/jsr.12055 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Van den Bulck J. The effects of media on sleep. Adolesc Med State Art Rev 2010;21:418–29, vii. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms