Bedtime media use 'harmful' for sleep: Study

A study published in the 'Journal of Sleep Research' examined how the use of media before sleep might impact health. According to recent research, media use, such as watching movies, television, or YouTube videos, browsing the Internet, or listening to music, before bed can lead to peculiar diseases. Diseases like insomnia are very common nowadays, especially post Covid-19 pandemic. Even the early birds started staying up late into the night, binge-watching films or web series or scrolling through social media. But have you ever thought that how much does that impacts our bodies? Also Read :IIT-Jodhpur researchers identify Covid-19 RNA variations, implications According to the study, 58 adults kept a diary record information of the time they used to spend with media before bed and multitasking. Electroencephalography is a type of test that detects electrical activity of the brain using small metal discs attached to the scalp--captured parameters such as bedtime, total sleep time, and sleep quality. Media use in the hour before sleep was associated with an earlier bedtime. If the before-bed use did not involve multitasking and was conducted in bed, it was also associated with more total sleep time. Long use of media was associated with later bedtime and less total sleep time. Sleep quality was unaffected by media use before bed. Also Read : Does sleeping help in weight loss? Here's what experts say "If you are going to use media, like watching TV or listening to music, before bed, keep it a short, focused session and you are unlikely to experience any negative outcomes in your sleep that night," said lead author Morgan Ellithorpe, Ph.D., of the University of Delaware. -PTC News