C. Scott Brown / Android Authority
TL;DR A study found no clear link between bedtime phone use and poor sleep in adults.
Both regular and occasional bedtime scrollers reported better sleep than moderate users.
Researchers say age and how you use your phone may matter more than blue light itself.
For years, we’ve been warned to ditch our phones well before bedtime, with experts saying the blue light is likely to be detrimental to our sleep quality. Turns out, you might not have to feel so guilty about that final scroll after all.
As reported by Gizmodo, a new study titled The Complex Association Between Bedtime Screen Use and Adult Sleep Health found no clear link between nightly screen use and poor sleep among adults. In fact, both occasional and regular bedtime screen users reported better overall sleep health than those who used their phones moderately.
The research team from Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) and Université Laval surveyed over 1,300 adults across Canada, asking about their bedtime screen habits and how well they slept. After adjusting for age, income, and gender, the overall pattern remained the same, suggesting that phone use alone might not be the primary issue.
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Aside from the potential good news for chronic scrollers, that odd curve in the data is what makes the results so interesting. Regular bedtime screen users, defined as five or more nights a week, showed the best sleep timing and daytime alertness. Occasional users, who rarely looked at screens before bed, topped the charts for sleep satisfaction and consistency. The in-between group came off worst across several measures. That might suggest that consistency in bedtime habits, whether you use your phone or not, plays a role, though more research is needed.
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