NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Adolescents' sleep in front of screens, such as television, computers, tablets and smart phones, puts them at risk of insomnia and depression, a new study shows.
The study was conducted by researchers at Stony Brook, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin Madison universities in the United States, and watched 2,685 adolescents, averaging 15 years of age, to detect the effect of sleep on screens on sleep quality.
The study included control of sleep characteristics such as symptoms of insomnia, normal daily sleep duration, and symptoms of depression.
Teens were told about the usual daily time they spend in front of screens, such as a computer to browse social networks and the Web, as well as television to watch movies and games.
The results revealed that the longer the adolescents spent in front of the screens, the higher their rates of insomnia, and decreased the number of hours of sleep at night, in addition to increasing symptoms of depression.
"The high rates of depression in children and adolescents can be partly explained by the widespread use of screen-based activities, which can affect good sleep rates," said Stony Brook University research team leader Dr. Xian Stella Lee.
"These findings suggest that parents, teachers and health care providers can think about educating adolescents how to regulate their time spent in front of screens to improve sleep health and reduce depression," he said.
Previous research has found that getting enough sleep at night, 7 to 8 hours a day, improves public health and protects many diseases, especially diabetes and obesity.
Studies have also linked sleep disorders to the risk of stroke, heart attacks and weak immune systems.