New research is highlighting because adults who regularly direct their phones before bed can lose nearly an hour of sleep each week, causing brain damage. Published in the journal Jama Network On Thursday (March 27), researchers from the American Cancer Society discovered that daily screen use can disrupt the body's circadian rhythm and lead to about 50 minutes of sleep each week.
Over 122,000 participants were analyzed in the study conducted between February 2023 and January 2025. Daily bedtime use was reported in 41% of participants, with 17.4% reporting no screen use.
Compared to participants without screen use, daily screen usage was 33% higher than those using the screen.
“Daily screen use was associated with weekly sleep after bedtime and about 50 minutes less sleep. Among those with evening chronotypes, there was a high association among those at risk of sleep deprivation due to social jet lag (i.e., inconsistency between circadian rhythm and social commitment),” the study emphasized.
He added that light exposure via telephone or other digital screens has disrupted the natural sleep cycle by slowing the onset of melatonin, a hormone that regulates the sleep-wake cycle.
High quality sleep is essential for health, but average sleep time and quality have declined over the past decades, with a third of adults not meeting the recommended guidelines for 7-9 hours of sleep per night.
“Our findings reinforce the evidence that disruptions with electronic screen use and sleep duration and quality are limited to the wider adult population, not to children and adolescents.”
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Social Media and Sleep
The study also noted that sleep disruption may not be limited to the effects of screen lights. In fact, the type of content people consume can be disrupting the sleep cycle.
They said social media is one of the leading sources of content consumed on mobile devices, but “only a handful are considering using social media at bedtime.”
“Among adolescents, those who check social media 30 minutes before bedtime are 1.62 times more likely to report sleep disorders,” the researchers said.
Sleep deprivation has a serious impact on a person's overall health as it affects administrative functions involved in attention and emotional regulation, memory, and brain regions involved in the community. In the long term, it can increase the risk of obesity, diabetes, hypertension, anxiety and depression, and weaken the immune system.
