Spending time on Facebook, Twitter and other similar sites might be entertaining but it looks like social media is to blame for sleep issues.
You have probably heard already that spending time on social media websites might not be that good for our health. Of course, you were probably thinking that besides a headache from keeping your eyes on a screen for several hours, what else could happen? Well, according to a team of researchers at the University of Pittsburgh spending too much time on social media can affect your sleep patterns.
Browsing Instagram may keep you from falling asleep
The study had as subjects, young people between 19 and 32 years old. They were from the United States and were a total of 1,788 participants. The people in the study spent about 61 hours per week on social media. 30 percent of them had very big problems with sleep, as the time spent sleeping was very much reduced. The time usually spent sleeping, was now spent browsing through Instagram or even in discussions on Twitter or Facebook.
What causes what?
But the question is now whether social media leads to sleep deprivation or sleep deprivation leads to social media use. Researchers believe it might actually be a vicious circle. People who have problems with sleep turn to social media as a way to spend the time hoping it might help them fall asleep. On the contrary, according to researchers, spending your sleeping hours on social media will lead to the development of more sleeping issues and you will end up not being able to fall asleep and become addicted to social media as a form of “sleeping pill” despite the fact that it doesn’t really help.
How to get better sleep
Nevertheless, a single study may not be enough to convince people to spend less time on social media and try other alternatives for a better sleep. One of them is doing sports. Exercising gives you energy and it makes both your body and your brain healthy, but you also get tired and you need rest. Having a daily schedule full of activities, both lucrative and leisure could help you get a good night sleep as your body and brain will need rest at night. Besides, having others things to do, will also keep you away from social media for a longer time.
Image source: www.bing.com
