Text Messages Disturb Sleep

“Text messages disturb young people’s sleep,” reports the German health newsletter Apotheken Umschau. During a study conducted at Leuven University, Belgium, 2,500 youngsters, aged 13 to 16, were asked how often they were awakened by incoming text messages on their cellular phones and how tired they felt at various times. Ten percent reported being awakened by messages at least once a week. The sleep of 3 percent was interrupted in this way every night. According to one of the researchers, the “findings suggest that mobile telephones may be having a major impact on the quality of sleep of a growing number of adolescents.” The newsletter recommends: “Parents should make sure that their child’s mobile phone is switched off at night.”