Sleep disorders caused by excessive use of digital devices, increasing the risk of depression in girls
Apr 03, 2025
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This is the result of a study by Dr. Sebastian Höckby of the University of Karolinska, Sweden, published in the medical journal PLOS Global Public Health on the 2nd (local time). The research team said it reached this conclusion by observing the relationship between screen usage time, sleep disorders, and depression of more than 4,800 teenagers for 12 months.
Adolescent depression and sleep disorders are a public health issue in many countries, and Swedish health officials recently recommended limiting leisure time screen use to within two to three hours a day, which they describe as partly intended to improve adolescent sleep.
The research team investigated and analyzed the amount and quality of sleep, depression, and screen usage three times a year on 4,810 male and female students aged 12 to 16 to examine the causal relationship between screen usage time, sleep disorders, and depression. As a result of the analysis, it was found that increased screen usage time reduced sleep duration and quality of sleep for both men and women within 3 months. Screen usage time slowed sleeping time and interfered with several aspects of the sleep-arousal cycle all at once. In particular, in the case of female students, the decrease in the amount and quality of sleep was found to have a direct effect on the increase in depression. It was analyzed that 38-57% of depressive symptoms among female students during the study were mediated by sleep disorders. Male students also experienced sleep disturbances when screen usage time increased, but it was found that this did not directly affect depression after 12 months.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
