Electronic Screen Use and Sleep Duration and Timing in Adults

Area of Science:

• Sleep Science
• Chronobiology
• Public Health

Background:

• Electronic screen use before bedtime is a common behavior.
• Screen use may disrupt natural circadian rhythms and negatively impact sleep.
• Understanding the association between pre-sleep screen habits and sleep outcomes in adults is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between electronic screen use in the hour before bed and various sleep outcomes in a large adult cohort.
• To examine how chronotype influences the relationship between pre-sleep screen use and sleep duration, quality, and timing.

Main Methods:

• Utilized data from the American Cancer Society Cancer Prevention Study-3 (CPS-3) cohort, including survey responses from over 122,000 adults.
• Assessed self-reported electronic screen use prior to bed, sleep duration, sleep quality, and chronotype.
• Employed multivariable linear and Poisson regression models to analyze associations, adjusting for potential confounders and examining chronotype interactions.

Main Results:

• Daily pre-sleep screen use was associated with a 33% higher prevalence of poor sleep quality.
• Participants using screens before bed experienced approximately 7.6 fewer minutes of sleep on workdays and 5.0 fewer minutes on non-workdays.
• Associations between screen use and later bedtimes and reduced sleep duration were more pronounced in individuals with evening chronotypes compared to morning chronotypes.

Conclusions:

• Pre-sleep electronic screen use is significantly associated with poorer sleep quality, later bedtimes, and reduced sleep duration in adults.
• Evening chronotype individuals are particularly vulnerable to sleep disruption from screen use, potentially exacerbating social jetlag.
• Findings underscore that sleep disruption from electronic screens extends beyond pediatric populations, necessitating further research into effective intervention strategies.