Citation

Appleton SL, Reynolds AC, Gill TK, Melaku YA, Adams R. Sleep 2020; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

The Adelaide Medical School, University of Adelaide, Woodville, SA, Australia.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, American Academy of Sleep Medicine, Publisher Associated Professional Sleep Societies)

DOI

10.1093/sleep/zsaa015

PMID

32022893

Abstract

Use of smartphones/electronic devices and their relationship with outcomes are understudied in adult populations. We determined daytime functional correlates of using technology during the night in a population sample of Australian adults. A cross-sectional, national online survey of sleep health was conducted in 2019 (n=1984, 18-90 years). Nocturnal technology use was assessed with: "In the past seven days, how often did you wake or were woken to send or receive text messages, emails or other electronic communications?" Waking to use technology during all/most nights were reported by 4.9%, with 13.8% reporting 2-3 nights/week, and 12.7% reporting just one night/week. Technology users were more likely to be younger, employed, experience financial stress, and speak English as a second language. In adjusted analyses, compared to no use, technology use at least 2-3 nights/week was significantly associated with daytime problems (sleepiness, fatigue and impaired mood, motivation and attention) and was more evident in participants not reporting/perceiving a sleep problem. Technology use was independently associated with ≥1 drowsy driving-related motor vehicle accidents/near miss per month [odds ratio (OR)=6.4, 95%CI: 3.8-10.7] and with missing work (OR=4.8, 95%CI: 3.2-7.2) and making errors at work (OR=2.2, 95%CI: 1.5-3.3) at least one day in the past 3 months due to sleepiness/sleep problem. These associations were not significantly modified by age. Public health implications of waking to engage with electronic devices at night may be significant in terms of safety, productivity and well-being. Limiting sleep disrupting technology use will require innovative language-diverse strategies targeted broadly across age groups.

© Sleep Research Society 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Sleep Research Society. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail journals.permissions@oup.com.

Language: en

Keywords

adults; cell phone; daytime dysfunction; epidemiological study; mobile phone; motor vehicle accidents; text messaging; work absenteeism