Late-night screen time causes ‘social jet lag,’ psych issues

mental health

To Mark Laranilla

Aug 7, 2023 | 12:24 PM

If your teen is struggling with emotional issues, chances are they are suffering from “social jet lag.”

Social jet lag is the difference between our body’s natural sleep needs (or chronotypes) and the time we are awake due to social tasks, including social media.

Health experts have found that late-night screen time is the leading cause of social jet lag, which greatly increases the risk of psychological problems in teens.

“Pre-sleep screen use was associated with delayed chronotypes and subsequent increased social jet lag, and was associated with higher levels of emotional problems,” the study authors said. writing. Published in Journal of Affective Disorders.

Researchers collected data from two different surveys of more than 4,000 Chinese high school students.

Study participants reported screen use before bedtime, chronotypes (the body’s innate sleep schedule), and any emotional problems they may be experiencing.

Researchers found that teens who used screens such as cell phones, tablets and computers before going to bed tended to have slower chronotypes and greater social jet lag.

This exacerbation of social jet lag and disruption of natural sleep rhythms puts adolescents at increased risk of developing emotional or psychological problems.

In addition, the study also revealed that teens with late chronotypes had difficulty coping with early social schedules, such as early school start times. This lag exacerbated social jet lag and psychological problems.

This study highlights the importance of encouraging healthy screen habits in adolescents and keeping in mind their natural sleep patterns to support mental health.

“These results suggest that healthy media usage habits need to be developed and intervention strategies targeting circadian traits need to be developed to promote mental health in adolescents. There are,” the study authors wrote.

The authors acknowledged that among the limitations of this study was the fact that survey data relied on self-reports from study participants, which could lead to reporting biases and participants’ misremembering. rice field.

Many health problems are associated with irregular sleep schedules, especially among “night owls” who stay up late and sleep late due to their chronotype.

A recent study found one reason why night owls often have worse health conditions. Night owls tend to smoke more and drink more alcohol than those who wake up early in the morning to shine.

Previous studies have also found that exposure to blue light emitted by electronic screens can disrupt circadian rhythms, leading to delayed sleep onset and other health problems.

This is especially true when the content on your screen is stressful news or anxiety-inducing social media posts. This is known as the “Doom Scroll”.