Overview
- A TMU–Université Laval survey of more than 1,000 Canadian adults found overall sleep health was similar for nightly screen users and nonusers, with the poorest sleep reported by those using phones only a few nights per week.
- In that study, over 80% reported using screens at bedtime in the past month and nearly half said they did so every night.
- An in-home experiment from Ruhr University Bochum with 32 toddlers aged 15–24 months found comparable evening melatonin increases and sleep outcomes after a tablet story versus the same story in a picture book.
- Both research teams cautioned about limits such as self-reported data, small samples, and single-evening exposures, and called for larger, longer, naturalistic studies across age groups.
- Experts remain divided, with a National Sleep Foundation panel emphasizing content-related sleep risks for youth and clinicians noting that causality is unresolved despite widespread bedtime screen habits.