The delay in bedtime can have negative consequences for health because if we have to get up early the next day, the number of hours we spend sleeping decreases. For this reason, in order to enjoy a restful rest, it is advisable to avoid certain activities, such as physical exercise or exposing yourself to the light of the screens that emit devices such as smartphones or tablets a few hours before going to bed.
Now, in addition, a study has found a causal association between using social networks at night and the delay in falling asleep. The work has been carried out by a group of psychiatrists from Duke University and Yale University who analyzed the data of 44,000 Reddit users to assess the use of social networks and the delay in sleep patterns. Their findings have been published in Sleep Medicine.
Previous research has already shown that exposure to blue light, such as that emitted by mobile phones and tablets, can cause problems falling asleep because it interferes with the production of melatonin. The authors of the new work have verified that posting something on a social network, such as Instagram, Twitter or Facebook before the usual bedtime can delay the time to go to sleep.
The state of alert increases after posting on social networks
The researchers wanted to find out if posting on social networks could interfere with normal sleep patterns, especially during the night period, and carried out a detailed analysis of the data on the Reddit social network, where users can post comments or links to content. as well as comment on other people’s posts.
After posting something on social networks, users were still awake for one to three hours after their usual bedtime.
These experts analyzed 236 million posts that had been made by 44,000 users of this network over a period of 16 years, and this allowed them to establish what they described as normal bedtimes for frequent users of the network and, in this way, measure the impact of social media posts before normal bedtime.
The results of the analysis showed that when a user posted to the site about an hour before their normal bedtime, they were much more likely to stay up past their normal bedtime; in fact, on average, after posting they were still awake one to three hours later than normal. And if they posted multiple times before their normal bedtime, they stayed up even later.
The researchers have attributed their findings to the fact that in these people there is an increase in dopamine levels as a result of the anticipation of a response to their post from other users of the social network that makes it difficult for them to relax and fall asleep. In previous studies it had also been observed that an increase in dopamine levels contributes to greater mental activity and alertness, which are not factors conducive to falling asleep.
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