Report: gaming causes sleeplessness

By Fred Dutton Published 7 March, 2011

Productivity, health, sex drive suffers.

Playing videogames, using laptops and sending text messages before bed is causing increased sleeplessness, so says expert research.

A new American study by the National Sleep Foundation showed that 95 per cent of those questioned said they used some type of electronics in the hour before bed, with about two-thirds admitting they do not get enough sleep during the week.

Charles Czeisler of Harvard Medical School told Reuters that exposure to artificial light before bed increases alertness and suppresses the release of sleep-inducing hormone melatonin.

A third of 13-18 year-olds and 28 per cent of 19-29 year olds said they played video games before bedtime.

The former group were suffering the most, according to the study, with 22 per cent describing themselves as "sleepy". That's compared to only nine per cent of 46-64 years old.

"Kids today are getting an hour and a half to two hours less sleep per night than they did a century ago. That means that they are losing about 50 hours of sleep per month," said Czeisler.

"Parents should get these technologies out of the bedrooms of kids if they want them to do well (in school)."

The NSF report added that all this sleeplessness was having an impact on a national level, with people's productivity, mood, driving habits, sex lives and general health all suffering.

"Unfortunately, cell phones and computers, which make our lives more productive and enjoyable, may be abused to the point that they contribute to getting less sleep at night leaving millions of Americans functioning poorly the next day," explained NSF vice chairman Russell Rosenberg.

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About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (55) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • hiddenranbir #1 1 year ago

    Parents need to sort it or abort it.

  • LordViru #2 1 year ago

    It'd be interesting to see how much sleep in comparison people without using computers or electronics are getting relative to a century ago to put it into perspective. Also the use of terms such as "sleepy" is highly subjective whilst they make a large leap from lack of sleep to massive national effects, as well as this being for the National Sleep foundation who may have wanted the results they got beforehand. Then again this could be a very well carried out study and my quibbles have no place in the discussion.

  • dadrester #3 1 year ago

    +1 [edit] with the study [/edit]

    I'm terrible for this. I don't usually agree with the results of these kinds of study but this one is bang on for me.
    Edited by dadrester at 07/03/11 @ 21:49

  • goatjugsoup #4 1 year ago

    Sorry but i have to call bs on the article. If you are gaming/texting/chatrooming mightn't the reason you aren't getting any sleep be because you're having such a good time that you don't go to sleep early enough? Also that was a very inaccuratee headline, talk about negative media, the article is barely about gaming.

  • Rens11 #5 1 year ago

    Whats sex?

  • mooseti #6 1 year ago

    I have to ask - was posting this at 21:38 intentional?

  • Boomerang #7 1 year ago

    I'd say lack of bloody exercise too.

  • JoeBlade #8 1 year ago

    Um... that Reuters link points to the Bioware DA2 patches page?

    Edit: never mind, I notice it's just been fixed :)
    Edited by JoeBlade at 07/03/11 @ 22:00

  • Ryze #9 1 year ago

    My laptop / PC use keeps me awake too late...

    EG it's ALL YOUR FAULT!!!

    Funny that films and TV watching isn't mentioned here.

  • mcmothercruncher #10 1 year ago

    That's why I can't get it up and no woman has been within 10 feet of me for 25 years.

    /coat.

  • harveypooka #11 1 year ago

    We've had electric lights for over 100 years. Are they included? If they are, we're fucked!

  • Oceadge #12 1 year ago

    Is this study saying that because of electronic devices being used within an hour of going to bed it is making it hard for people to fall asleep? Or that people are going to bed later due to electronic devices?
    The former for me isn't true as I fall asleep within about 5-10 seconds. The latter is very true for me though - I only get about 4 hours sleep per night mid-week if I'm in the middle of a good game. But then that happens if I'm reading a good book too.

  • Xabarin #13 1 year ago

    I'm sad to admit that, except for the health part, this is true in my case ಠ_ಠ

  • Yuroko #14 1 year ago

    I'll go along with that. Every night in bed I have a go at 3 staring every level on Angry Birds for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes I want to lob my phone out the window and my blood pressure is too high to sleep. Nothing a little wank won't remedy though...

  • FuzzyDuck #15 1 year ago

    i beg to differ.

  • Shabbaranks #16 1 year ago

    I read EG daily news on my iPhone when I get in bed, not all of it as would be morning by the time I wade through yet another 3DS article.

  • chasejamie #17 1 year ago

    Do you know what makes me knackered? Work. Ban it.

  • Gastrian #18 1 year ago

    Post deleted at 13:33:59 08-05-2012

  • MaybeLater #19 1 year ago

    The old Chicken/egg conundrum. They used to say reading and eating before bed were equally detrimental; now they advise it. Humans aren't designed to sit at a desk all day, you rarely meet insomniac farmers.

  • BlinkeredAxis #20 1 year ago

    Good. All that non-gaming shit is just time-wasting.

  • metalangel #21 1 year ago

    I am lying in bed reading this RIGHT NOW.

    If it weren't for the fact that I had a very full day out and about*, I'd be deathly terrified that I wouldn't get to sleep and would lie awake for several hours, worrying about all the problems being tired tomorrow could cause.

    *crucial. Unless you've burned some energy, you'll still have lots, and probably won't feel sleepy. That playing videogames and/or texting and surfing don't use much is just a coincidence, of course.

  • MattEdWithCheese #22 1 year ago

    who cares? It's worth it!

  • Collymilad #23 1 year ago

    Hmm weird, considering I play 2-3 hours of 360 most nights just before I go to bed then sleep like a log.

  • Phishfood #24 1 year ago

    blah depends on the games you play. Harvest moon games tend to make me fall asleep, I don't know why I keep trying to play them.

  • ruslan74 #25 1 year ago

    Sleep? Whats that? I just close my eyes once in a while to get some rest, not sleep.

  • bmanula #26 1 year ago

    I have certainly noticed something similar to this in my sleep. For me it is competitive online games which make it impossible to sleep for at least an hour after I stop playing and my sleep is fitful for several hours. I had to give up Starcraft 2 mp because I was so wired afterward.

  • evild_edd #27 1 year ago

    @Ryze: "Funny that films and TV watching isn't mentioned here."

    I think there's something different between TV and films, which are passive experiences. I can doze off in front of a film (and most TV sends me to sleep any time of day), but I've never fallen asleep in front of a game even when I'm looking at the clock thinking I should've called it a night hours earlier....

    +1 for needing a good hour before I've wound-down enough for sleep. Does anyone else find it worse for FPS games??? Online MP really keeps me awake for some time (L4D or Halo particular offenders here) really keep me buzzing for some time....

  • nasanu #28 1 year ago

    This rings very true for me. Getting sleep is a massive problem for me and I am always online before bed.

  • Toaster #29 1 year ago

    JC, the NSF are terrorists. They want people dead.

  • jonthepymm #30 1 year ago

    ... leaving millions of Americans functioning poorly the next day ...

    Was worried until I reached this part. Thank God I'm English and therefore remain unaffected :-)

  • 5h1nj1 #31 1 year ago

    quote: "exposure to artificial light before bed increases alertness and suppresses the release of sleep-inducing hormone melatonin"

    You mean like any light after sunset? LOL
    Oh well, lets ban electricity and return to the dark ages.
    Btw, I don't sleep well, when I DON'T use my playstation for a while before bed. It relieves me from my work day stress.
    Depends a bit on the game, of course. But you don't get to know that from these "studies".

  • Kerome #32 1 year ago

    Yea, agreed. Was up last night until 2.30 am playing Fable 3.

    Seriously I think it does contribute, it's an adrenaline & brain chemistry thing. I've noticed the same effect with Bejewelled and other casual games as with triple-A titles... although I don't normally play late in the evenings unless I'm already feeling sleepless.

  • RexRunti #33 1 year ago

    Dodgy conclusions reached from this study, these things should really be peer reviewed before being released to the press. It reads like 95% of people use electronic devices just before bed and 66% are tired therefore electronic devices cause sleep problems, despite the same people saying we get 2 hours sleep on average less than we used to. (And on that there was an actually robust study that showed that because of all the puberty hormones in teenagers they naturally want to stay up later and sleep longer and if we wanted our kids to develop better school shouldn't start until at least 11.)

    That said, the Havard Medical School guy I'm sure has lots of research to back up his claims that artificial light prevents sleep, but then this could apply to reading a book with the light on as well as playing a computer game. Infact I'm convinced that doing anything that gets you wired makes it hard to sleep immediatly after, like playing a computer game, watching an action movie or reading a very exciting book (I've stayed up far too late on many occasion by reading one more chapter after another).

    In the end I prefer some bad science that says that computer games reduce our sex drive rather than make us rapists like the previous bit of "research" suggested.

  • 00.00.01 #34 1 year ago

    YAWN.
    .
    There's plenty of time to sleep when I'm dead.

  • metalangel #35 1 year ago

    Well, I've been up for an hour. DEAR GOD I actually slept WHAT'S WRONG WITH MEEEE

  • FortysixterUK #36 1 year ago

    I think it's a bit bollox.
    I play games like they are the next religion.
    Haven't been late for a shift in 5 years.
    I always sleep like a brick.
    Please shove your survey.

  • arcam #37 1 year ago

    I have a program on my PC that dials down the brightness of the monitor as it gets later.

    I'ma terrible insomniac (mostly of my own doing), but this really helps for me.

  • Bluetooth #38 1 year ago

    NEWSFLASH, something mentally demanding keeps you up later than expected. Having sex just before bed also keeps you up - you could be sleeping whilst your're having sex! And babies also causes sleeplessness. Still though, nice that researchers get all this funding for something that is common sense

  • geeza2020 #39 1 year ago

    Why do you need a program for that? Cant you just turn the brightness down yourself on the monitor?

  • TonyCB #40 1 year ago

    @Bluetooth

    Cant get to sleep *after* sex?? Blimey, I know lots of women who would like to meet you!! :)

  • arcam #41 1 year ago

    @geeza2020

    Mainly because I would always forget to do it. But also because the program does more than just brightness, it adjusts colour temperature too so after dark your monitor looks more like artificial lights, and does it all based on sunset times etc.

    I'd definitely recommend it for anyone who has similar problems to me: [link url=http://stereopsis.com/flux/
    ]http://stereopsis.com/flux/
    [/link]

  • FooAtari #42 1 year ago

    I stopped using the laptop/phone in bed and started reading more, especially since getting the Kindle and get FAR better sleep as a result.

    I used to find it hard to fall asleep and have pretty restless nights, since swapping the bright lcd screen for a book or e-ink I get a better nights sleep.

  • metalangel #43 1 year ago

    @TonyCB: Nobody ever speaks of the women who fall asleep after they've... y'know... "had one".

  • patootik #44 1 year ago

    Totally inconclusive, totally subjective.

    I usually play Phoenix wright in bed before sleep and have no probs as it's a relaxing type of game. Recently however I've been reading a book on business and entrepreneurship before bed after which I have a terrible time sleeping as it's so stimulating and motivational.

    It's all about the style and content of the game/book/movie/tv show that you are exposed to before sleep, certain themes and styles are more or less conducive to rest, simple.

    Play a slow paced RPG, turn based strategy or point and click before bed, no probs, play COD, NFS, or similarly fast paced games and yeah you will have trouble calming down. The same logic could be applied to any other media.

    Also on health, sex drive etc, yes I agree "do one thing to much, expect negative effects on other things". The key is balance, we don't need studies to work that out.
    Edited by patootik at 08/03/11 @ 11:34

  • arcam #45 1 year ago

    A quick point - the study itself was about electronics, so laptop use and text messaging are included. It's only the headline here that makes it about games.

    I don't really think it's the content that is the main cause for sleeplessness, but the fact that we are staring deep into bright LCD screens until the minute we close our eyes at night.

  • KrazyFace #46 1 year ago

    Firstly, I managed to fall asleep at the wheel in GT3 going round that damn oval track a bajillion times for some ridiculous "endurance" race! Secondly, people over 60 NEVER bloody sleep!!! They all come out for papers and shopping at 5AM and wonder why nothing's open, but then, they do go to bed at 5PM...

  • Murton #47 1 year ago

    "Cant get to sleep *after* sex??"

    It's actually a common problem. If you're able to get in, get it done and get out SAS style the various endorphines will help you sleep. If however you have to get up to dispose of the condom/clean up then even that relatively short burst or respiration will counteract said endorphines leaving you at square one. If you want to sleep then you want oral, then you can just roll over and get your sleep on without issue.

    On topic, I'd be quicker to blame the modern work day than anything that people do in their spare time. After you add in breaks and commute time the average working day is a 10 hour+ grind and quite stressful. You then need to eat upon return, a lack of time means largely processed food, much of which contains all sorts of stuff that isn't good for sleep. If you're to get your full recommended amount of sleep you're usually only left with a couple of hours to unwind which simply isn't enough, this means that we either A: stay up longer trying to relax before bed or B: go to bed still stressed and not sleep well anyway. If the NSF and other do-gooders want people to get better sleep and lead better lives then they'd campaign for shorter working days, but then they wouldn't be able to produce taglines like "parents who want their kids to do well at school need to remove their electronic devices" which makes the cynic in me think that there may have been an agenda at play here the whole time.

  • arcam #48 1 year ago

    @Murton

    If working practices was the main factor you'd see it affecting adults more than kids, but the study finds that it is the other way around.

  • darleysam #49 1 year ago

    If I'm playing something like Reach just before bed, I know I have a harder time falling asleep. With a film instead, usually I go off quicker. Stands to reason, really.

    That said, if 95% of people asked come in on one side, that doesn't sound like a fair study.

  • DiamondIce #50 1 year ago

    What is this sex life of which they speak?

    I have stopped playing games before bedtime because I cannot sleep very well. I think the brain gets too active.
    Edited by DiamondIce at 08/03/11 @ 14:03

  • ISmoke #51 1 year ago

    eh, it's true to an extent. I don't know the last time i went to bed before 2am was but i don't think thats the games fault though.

  • Paulie_P #52 1 year ago

    "Kids today are getting an hour and a half to two hours less sleep per night than they did a century ago."

    Kids today are over 100 years old?

  • Murton #53 1 year ago

    "If working practices was the main factor you'd see it affecting adults more than kids, but the study finds that it is the other way around."

    Point, though it can be argued that kid's schedules are determined largely by that of their parents. There are also more than a few studies that suggest that kids get stressed at seeing their parents stressed, a factor which this study seems to be ignoring. To look at kids as young as 13 in isolation of peer/family factors is a little shortsighted, which is why all of these studies really should be peer reviewed before they can be published.

  • jake-123 #54 1 year ago

    i'm not buying this at all. i game before going to bed and i get to sleep fine. if anything i start to feel tired!

    once again its just some guys trying to say gaming is bad for you

  • DRUNK3N-_-DRAGON #55 1 year ago

    so thats why i forgot what my bed is...