The relationship between sleep disorders (or “somnipathy”) and internet addiction is not really well known. However, because of the importance of both conditions, we feel that it is appropriate to assess their relationship.

It is well known that becoming addicted to the screen can have a negative impact upon our health. What’s less well known is that every night millions of young people wake up to access the Internet. In fact, one study found that 14% of high school students rose during the night to use the net.

As Le Monde reports, 14% of those students wake up to play games at night, 25% access social media and 32% send SMS messages. What makes it worse is that 13% of these young people spend over an hour at night on the Internet. An Internet addict can therefore sleep less than the body needs, and their night-time online activity could be changing the addict’s behaviour. What’s more, it is quite likely that this activity will have a negative impact upon their work if they are an adult, or their studies if they are a student.

Sleep is important for everyone’s health. If we don’t get enough sleep we tire more easily during the day, we become more irritable, our concentration span suffers, while missing sleep has also been linked to excessive weight gain.

This makes it vital for parents to set clear rules for youngsters in order to ensure that they get a good night’s sleep. These rules might include turning off phones and computers before going to sleep (or at least leaving the phone in silent mode). Young people should also be reassured that, while it might be important to stay up to date with developments on social media, nothing is so urgent that it cannot wait until the morning.

This isn’t just a problem for young people, although it is very difficult to learn properly without getting enough sleep. The reality is that we all need sleep to maintain our physical and intellectual capacities. For most people, a good period of sleep is around 8 hours, but this will vary depending on the individual.

All of this means that we cannot underestimate the dangers attached to Internet addiction and sleep disorders. To be healthy, we all need to sleep. So do not sacrifice your night’s sleep to check social media or play online games, and try to maintain a regular weekly sleeping pattern. The benefits will be enormous.

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