Adolescent sleep affected by excessive cell phone use
Teenagers who excessively use their cell phone are more prone to disrupted sleep, restlessness, stress and fatigue.
This is according to a study carried out by Gaby Badre and colleagues of Sahlgren's Academy in Gothenburg, Sweden. The looked at 21 healthy adolescents, aged between 14 and 20 who had regular working hours and who did not have sleep problems. They were broken up into a control group, who made five or less calls/SMSs per day and a study group who made 15 or more calls/SMSs per day. They were then questioned on their sleeping habits.
According to the results, when compared to subjects with restricted use of cell phones, young people with excessive use of cell phones (both talking and text messaging) have increased restlessness with more careless lifestyles, more consumption of stimulating beverages, difficulty in falling asleep and disrupted sleep, and more susceptibility to stress and fatigue.
According to Badre, addiction to cell phone use is becoming common, with adolescents feeling that they have to be in contact and reachable around the clock. Adolscents are recognised to need around nine hours sleep a night for optimum cognitive functioning.
