A new study presented at the SLEEP 2024 annual meeting found a link between sleep duration, social media use, and brain activation in areas responsible for executive control and reward processing in young people.
As part of the Adolescent Cognitive Brain Development Study, researchers analyzed data from adolescents ages 10 to 14 using questionnaires. They measured their brain activity using functional MRI during a reward processing task. The study used multiple models and adjusted for factors such as age, the COVID-19 pandemic, and sociodemographic characteristics.
The study found that the frontolimbic regions of the brain, specifically the inferior and middle frontal gyri, play an important role in how adolescents manage social media participation and sleep... The inferior frontal gyrus helps regulate interaction with rewarding stimuli like social media, while the middle frontal gyrus is crucial for decision-making related to balancing social media rewards and sleep.
The research also found that teens who slept less than their peers tended to make more use of social media. The researchers also suggest how poor Sleep and high social media use could alter neural sensitivity to reward during adolescence, influencing brain development.
Dr. Orsolya Kiss, cognitive psychology researcher at SRI International, said understanding these interactions can help identify the risks and benefits of digital engagement on adolescent brain development.
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) recommends that adolescents get between 8 and 10 hours of sleep and advises disconnecting from electronic devices 30 to 60 minutes before bedtime.
The need for Sleeping well is a global problem in modern life. life and has an important impact on health. Sleep is important for good physical and mental health and a good quality of life. But our modern society, which operates 24 hours a day and has constant access to information and stimulation, could contribute to not getting enough sleep. There is considerable evidence that inadequate sleep causes many adverse medical and mental abnormalities.
Read more about the link between sleep and mental health in this blog.
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