A new study links sleep disturbances to the use of social media.
A new study links sleep disturbances to the use of social media.
A new study links sleep disturbances to the use of social media.
A team of psychology experts from Yale and Duke Universities in the United States found a relationship between sleep disorders and the use of social media in the evening, through a study of 44,000 people.
The research team analyzed 120 million posts published by 44,000 people over a period of 15 years, and succeeded in determining the normal sleep hours of those who use these platforms frequently. This allowed them to study the effect of blogging on social media on normal sleep hours.
The researchers found that posting a post on the site an hour before a normal bedtime is likely to result in a user staying awake beyond their normal bedtime, for an average of 1 to 3 hours.
The researchers attributed the reasons for this phenomenon to the high levels of dopamine in the brain due to the user’s anticipation of the response from the rest of the platform’s users to his post. This disrupts the possibility of relaxation that precedes sleep.
Previous studies have revealed that high levels of dopamine contribute to increased mental activity and alertness, all of which are symptoms that interfere with normal sleep.
