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Strict smartphone rules pay off: when young people are not allowed to use their cell phones in the evening, they sleep an average of 40 minutes longer and perform better at school. This is shown by a new study from the University of Geneva. “Parents therefore play a key role. Their commitment directly influences the health and success of their children,” said lead author Kevin Mammeri in a statement released by the University of Geneva on Wednesday.
For the study, published in the journal Discover Public Health, researchers examined responses from over 300 students between the ages of 13 and 15. The young people completed a questionnaire about their sleeping habits and their parents’ rules regarding screen use.
The results show that students who are subject to the strictest rules – no cell phones in the bedroom and no cell phone use in the evening – sleep significantly longer. On average, the sleep gain is 40 minutes per night. “This is significant when you consider that this age group needs around nine hours of sleep but often only gets seven to eight. Each week, this gain of 40 minutes is almost equivalent to an extra night’s sleep,” emphasized study leader Virginie Sterpenich in the press release.
Weak rules are ineffective
Weak rules are ineffective – this was confirmed by another result of the study. Students with strict rules performed better on average at school than those without strict cell phone usage rules. Other restrictions, such as limiting daily screen time or setting a fixed time at which the device should no longer be used, had no significant impact on sleep duration, according to the study. “These results suggest that the introduction of a rule requiring the physical removal of electronic screen devices from the bedroom is associated with longer sleep duration,” the researchers wrote in the study.
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