Is sleep duration associated with self-reported overall health, screen time, and nighttime texting among adolescents?

Objectives

We aimed to investigate whether sleep duration is associated with self-reported overall health, screen time, and nighttime texting among Swedish adolescents.

Methods

This was a cross-sectional survey of students (n = 1518) aged 13 to 15 years (50.7% girls) in southern Sweden.

Results

Fewer than 8 hours sleep duration before a school day was reported by 31% of students. The median time spent watching television and/or at the computer was 3 hours, and 43% of students reported texting at night one or more times per week. Sleeping fewer than 8 hours was significantly associated with poorer self-reported overall health, often being tired at school, increased screen time, and a habit of nighttime texting.

Conclusions

Short sleep duration (<8 hours) was associated with poor self-reported health, increased screen time, and nighttime texting among respondents. These results provide information for parents, educators, and school health professionals to encourage young people to adopt healthy screen habits and sleep hygiene.