What does your iPhone have to do with your sleep? A lot more than you’d think! We took a look at a 2016 study by Angelick Schweizer that talks about adolescents with smartphones sleeping less than their peers below.
The study can be found here, but if you want to go behind the paywall, paste the article title in this website.
The Study
Schweizer and team examined 591 adolescents (mean age of 14.3 years, roughly evenly split by gender) over a two year period. The teens were split between two groups:
- Owners (owned a phone at the start and the end of the two year period)
- 383 total participants
- New Owners (didn’t own a phone at the start, but had one at the end)
- 153 total participants
- Non-owners (didn’t own a phone at the start, nor owned a phone at the end)
- 55 total participants
The three groups were compared on sleep duration, sleep problems, and sociodemographic variables (to account for any outside differences).
Participants would be contacted biannually over the course of two years, where they were asked to fill out a questionnaire on sleep. Questions included “over the last six months, have you ever had sleep problems?” with 5 possible answers of varying degrees.
Background on the Study
There is a large body of evidence indicating TV, computers, and mobile phones are related to worse sleep and delayed time to sleep. This study wanted to hone in on smartphone use specifically.
Why the focus on smartphones? It’s likely the number one electronic used in people’s lives, and easy to take and use anywhere. The study backed this claim up, citing another study saying that smartphones are more frequently used in bed than any other electronic device.
Results of the Study
The results confirmed a lot of what people knew already, smartphones DO impact your sleep in a negative way! The study found:
- The Owners group were more likely to have sleep problems from the start
- There was a statistically significant difference in sleep duration from Owners and Non Owners by the end, both on school days and weekends
Overall, adolescents who owned smartphones were significantly more likely to have shorter sleep than non owners.
So, smartphones are bad for sleep. But what is the cause?
The study cited two main reasons:
- Media use (like instagram, youtube, etc…) keeps people’s brains active later
- Exposure to light from the phone suppresses melatonin and delays the circadian rhythm
Of the two reasons, the first people can control by not going on those apps and the second people can’t (the screen will emit Blue Light no matter what). Well, we should say, the second reason people can’t control…. until now.
We offer Blue Light blocking iPhone screen cases at affordable prices, called BlueBuffers. The tempered glass of the screen case effectively filters out Blue Light, reducing melatonin suppression and allowing you to sleep easier!
Our goal is to limit people’s downside risk of Blue Light in a non-intrusive way. All you have to do is put the case on and you’re protected! If you’re interested, check out our product page. If you want to read more studies on the subject of Blue Light, check out our blog. Thank you for reading!