Smart devices ‘may be encouraging teens to get less sleep’

The advent of smart devices is leading adolescents to get less sleep than previous generations, according to a new US study.

The San Diego State University research examined data from two US national studies involving more than 360,000 teenagers, finding that 40 percent of adolescents in 2015 slept less than seven hours a night, which is 58 percent more than in 1991 and 17 percent more than in 2009.

Moreover, the more time young people reported spending online, the less sleep they got, with those who spent five hours a day online shown to be 50 percent more likely to not sleep enough than those who only spent an hour online each day.

The researchers believe that the 17 percent rise in the number of students sleeping seven hours or less between 2009 and 2015 may be attributable to the popularisation of smart device technology during this period.

San Diego State University's professor of psychology Jean Twenge said: "Given the importance of sleep for both physical and mental health, both teens and adults should consider whether their smartphone use is interfering with their sleep."

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