Abstract

Summary

This review highlights how electronic media use in the bedroom, including mobile phones, contributes to chronic sleep loss in adolescents with downstream effects on academic performance, mental health, obesity risk, and driving safety. Practical interventions discussed include limiting evening screen exposure and implementing later school start times to better align with adolescent circadian biology.
Abstract

Key Findings

  • Electronic media use (including mobile phones) in the bedroom is identified as a key environmental factor contributing to chronic sleep loss in adolescents.
  • Chronic adolescent sleep restriction is associated with depression, increased obesity risk, and higher rates of drowsy driving accidents.
  • Later school start times are discussed as a policy-level intervention with potential to meaningfully reduce adolescent daytime sleepiness.
Categories

Categories

Sleep & Circadian Health: Reviews electronic media use as a factor contributing to chronic sleep loss and disrupted sleep patterns in adolescents.
Student Learning: Examines health and academic consequences of sleep restriction in youth, including discussion of later school start times as an intervention.
Mood & Mental Wellness: Identifies depression as a health-related consequence of chronic sleep loss in adolescents.
Authors

Author(s)

CK Snyder
Publication Date

Publication Year

2020
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