Screen Time Impairs Sleep According to National Sleep Foundation
574 Studies, One Clear Finding
Tweens spend 5.5 hours daily on screens. Teens hit 8.5 hours. Adults average 7. Much of this happens in the evening hours before bed. After reviewing 574 peer-reviewed studies, a National Sleep Foundation expert panel concluded that screen use impairs sleep health in children and adolescents, with prebedtime content being particularly harmful.
What the Panel Actually Found
The National Sleep Foundation convened 16 sleep and circadian experts throughout 2023 to evaluate whether screen use causes sleep problems. They examined evidence on three potential mechanisms: general screen use, content consumed before sleep, and light emitted from screens.
The panel reached consensus on five statements. First, screen use in general impairs sleep health for children and adolescents. Second, the content of prebedtime screen use impairs sleep health for these same age groups. Third, behavioral strategies and interventions can reduce these negative effects.
Notably, the panel did not reach consensus on whether screen light alone impairs sleep, or whether screens significantly affect adult sleep. The research on adults was more mixed, possibly because adults have more developed self-regulation and less sensitive circadian systems.
Why Content Matters More Than Blue Light
For years, blue light blocking glasses and night mode settings were marketed as solutions. The consensus statement complicates this narrative. The panel found stronger evidence that stimulating content disrupts sleep than that screen-emitted light does.
This makes intuitive sense. A calming meditation app and an anxiety-inducing news feed both emit similar light, but their effects on your ability to fall asleep differ dramatically. Social media algorithms are designed to provoke emotional responses that keep you engaged. That engagement comes at the cost of the mental wind-down your brain needs before sleep.
The practical implication is that simply dimming your screen or wearing blue light glasses may not address the primary problem. What you consume matters at least as much as the light exposure.
What Actually Helps
The panel's third consensus statement offers hope: behavioral strategies and interventions can attenuate the negative effects of screens on sleep. This means the damage isn't inevitable.
Effective strategies include establishing screen-free periods before bed, removing devices from bedrooms, and creating friction between you and the apps most likely to keep you scrolling. The panel's review found that these interventions produced measurable improvements in sleep outcomes.
For parents, this means setting and enforcing limits on prebedtime screen content, not just screen time in general. For adults, it means recognizing that your "quick check" before bed isn't as harmless as it feels.
Poor sleep doesn't just affect how you feel the next day. Sleep deprivation impairs reaction time, decision-making, and attention, all of which matter when you're behind the wheel. If late-night scrolling is cutting into your rest, the effects follow you onto the road. For a deeper look at how fatigue impacts driving safety, check out this guide to fatigued driving.
Applying This to Your Own Habits
Consider tracking when you actually put your phone down versus when you intended to. If there's a gap, that's where intervention helps. Charging your phone outside the bedroom removes temptation entirely. Apps that add friction, like ScreenBuddy's 25-second pause, create a moment to reconsider whether opening that app is worth the sleep you'll lose.
What to Remember
The National Sleep Foundation's consensus statement confirms that screens impair sleep, especially for young people and especially when stimulating content is consumed before bed. But behavioral interventions work. The key is creating barriers between yourself and the content that keeps your brain activated when it should be winding down.
