Healthline: Are You TikTok Tired? Here’s How to Stop Scrolling and Reclaim More Zs

“The fact that social media can disrupt sleep likely doesn’t come as a surprise.

A 2016 study indicated that it could significantly impact rest, and, as a result, affect the health and well-being of young adults.

More recently, a 2021 study of more than 1,000 TikTok users in China suggested that the popular app might lead to more daytime fatigue. Researchers believe the fatigue can be attributed to increased levels of cognitive arousal before bed.

This research doesn’t surprise Dr. Alex Dimitriu, double board certified in Psychiatry and Sleep Medicine and founder of Menlo Park Psychiatry & Sleep Medicine and BrainfoodMD.

“The behavior of ‘search and find,’ especially with food, has been shown to keep sleep-deprived mice awake endlessly,” Dimitriu says. “This makes evolutionary sense — finding food may be immediately more important even than sleep.”

And Dimitriu says humans view TikTok in a similar light. Charissa Chamorro, PhD, a New York City-based private clinical psychologist specializing in anxiety disorders and sleep-related issues, agrees.

“With TikTok, you stay hooked because the next video could be the funniest, most talked about, or most fascinating one you’ve ever seen,” Chamorro says. “You stay up late, despite being tired, because your brain is craving its next fix of fascinating entertainment. The videos on TikTok also provide an immediate reward while the benefits of sleep are experienced later.”

The blue light emanating from devices likely doesn’t help. Older research of eReaders from 2014 suggested that blue light adversely affected morning alertness, circadian rhythm, and sleep.”

Some Insights From This Article

• Tik Tok and other related social media platforms have become the new slot machine for the new generation. Every swipe is equating toward a temporary burst of pleasure quickly burned out by the end of the video or our disinterest prompting us to swipe again.

• This addictive short spurt of dopamine has been causing people to move on their phones at night, sometimes staying up for hours at time scrolling through content posted on the platforms.

• The most affected population is the most to lose from this sort of sleep disruption. Teenagers and young adults have the most gain from regular uninterrupted sleep as their brain and body are still developing. Yet these populations report the most sleep loss due to social media use.

Are there any strategies that you use to prevent using your phone at night or throughout the day?

Full article is here!

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