Mount Sinai South Nassau presents:

TRUTH IN MEDICINE

A:Yes. Extreme social media use can cause sleep disturbance at night, according to a new study from the University of Pittsburgh and backed by the National Institutes of Health. The study was based on a questionnaire distributed to 1,788 U.S. adults ages 19 to 32. The questions focused on sleep disturbance and social media habits on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat.

About 30% of the participants, who said they had high levels of sleep disturbance, were the group that most obsessively checked their social media accounts. Most participants said they log on to their accounts for more than one hour a day.

For example, social media may disturb sleep if it is:

• Displacing sleep, such as when a user stays up late posting photos on Instagram.
• Promoting emotional, cognitive or physiological arousal, such as when engaging in a contentious discussion on Facebook.
• Disrupting circadian rhythms through the bright light emitted by the devices used to access social media accounts.

If you’re having trouble sleeping, talk to your doctor about your options.