US researchers analyzed smartphone and sleep records covering more than 7,600 nights from 425 adolescents with an average age of about 15. In the reported findings, using a phone longer than usual after 10 p.m. was associated with 20 minutes less sleep and falling asleep 64 minutes later on average. Phone use 5–15 minutes before falling asleep was also associated with nighttime awakenings. These are associations in observational data: they do not show that phones caused all of the differences or that every adolescent would experience the same time differences. Families can consider adjusting nighttime notifications and usage time together, and replacing phone use before bed with less stimulating activities such as reading or gentle relaxation.
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Adolescent nighttime phone use linked to shorter sleep
The observational findings do not establish causation, but give families a reason to review phone use shortly before bedtime.