Sleepy? Research finds TV or Internet before bedtime the cause

Likely to feel that they don't get enough sleep

27 August 2007 12:34 GMT / By Stuart Miles

A new survey has found that people that watch television or spend time on the Internet before they go to bed are more likely to feel that they don't get enough sleep.

"While many people use electronic media, such as the Internet, it should be noted that the longer media use before sleep can trigger (self-perceived) insufficient sleep", lead researcher Dr. Nakamori Suganuma, of Osaka University, Japan, told Reuters Health.

The study that tested almost 6000 Japanese adults found that a late night working or watching TV wasn't good if you wanted to feel rested in the morning.

Published in the journal Sleep and Biological Rhythms, nearly 50% of respondents associated their lack of sleep with electronic media use before bedtime.

Notably, Suganuma said, "Internet use affected self-perceived insufficient sleep more than TV watching ... not only in younger Internet users but also in middle-aged or aged Internet users".

Up to 38% of the respondents listed accessing the Internet far into the night as a possible cause for their sleep disturbance, while about 25% said watching television far into the night caused their sleep problems.

However the good news is, longer internet and television use before bedtime did not correlate with less actual sleep.

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