Pre-Bed Screen Time and its Effect on Adolescent Sleep: A Systematic Review

Background: Good sleep quality among adolescents has been deemed crucial for preventing issues such as cardiovascular disease and obesity, and it is often measured through self-report questionnaires such as the PSQI. Several lifestyle factors affect adolescent sleep quality such as diet, caffeine use, physical activity, relationship with family, and daytime screen time. This systematic review looks to assess if pre- bed screen time has an impact on sleep quality among adolescents.

 

Methods: A systematic search of PubMed and OMNI following the PICO Cochrane Model and using keywords “screen time” “sleep quality” and “adolescents” yielded 537 results, which were then screened and narrowed down to seven. The inclusion criteria were adolescents aged approximately 13-18 globally, the use of any type of screens before bed, and the outcome was any impact on sleep quality. A topical search of Google Scholar was performed, and three more articles were added for a total of 10 articles.

 

Results: 90% of the studies in the review found a negative correlation between pre-bed screen time and sleep quality. Out of the nine studies that found a relationship, eight used statistically significant correlations and one used descriptive percentage. India was the only country that had no significant results. Two of the studies found that girls have worse sleep quality than boys, and one study found that the relationship between screen time and sleep quality is mediated by bedtime procrastination.

 

Conclusion: One of the primary factors implicated in the effect screen time before bed has on sleep quality is the blue light emitted by digital screens, which decreases melatonin levels, also known as the hormone related to regulating sleep cycles. It is recommended that parents regulate their adolescents’ screen time by implementing measures such as screen-time limits, and that public health educators implement more campaigns to educate adolescents on the issue.

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Article Contents 

 

24 min

Introduction Literature Review Methods Results Discussion Conclusion References

Introduction

Poor sleep quality is a growing issue among adolescents. A UK survey with a sample size of 18,642 students found 46.4% of high school students older than 10 experience poor sleep quality1. Sleep is pivotal for crucial areas in a person’s life, such as their physical and mental health. Biologically, sleep plays a role in the growth and development of one’s body and directly affects many different body systems including the cardiovascular, immune, endocrine, and neurologic systems2. Poor sleep quality can lead to several issues among adolescents such as increased risk of cardiovascular disease, obesity, and even lower self-esteem3. One factor known to impact sleep quality is pre-bed screen time 4. This systematic review aims to examine the impact of pre-bed screen time on sleep quality among adolescents.

 

 

Literature Review

Sleep, although difficult to define, is a state characterized by a posture in which the body is lying down with closed eyes, the reduction of activity and responsiveness to stimuli, and its ability to be reversed with ease5. Scientists also define it by physiological changes, such as lowered body temperature and brain wave activity patterns5. The brain wave activity patterns observed during sleep are what help to differentiate the sleep stages. The various stages are classified as being either rapid-eye movement (REM) sleep or non-REM (NREM) sleep. REM sleep is a stage of sleep in which the eyes move rapidly under the eyelids while dreams occur, and the brain activity closely resembles the activity while awake. An entire sleep cycle consists of three NREM sleep stages first,

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