Doctoral student Sara Thom\u00e9e and her research colleagues at the University of Gothenburg\u2019s Sahlgrenska Academy have conducted four different studies looking at how the use of computers and mobile phones affects the mental health of young adults.<\/p>\n Stress and sleep disorders<\/strong><\/p>\n These studies, which included questionnaires for 4,100 people aged 20-24 and interviews with 32 young heavy ICT users, reveal that intensive use of mobile phones and computers can be linked to stress, sleep disorders and depressive symptoms<\/strong>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe looked at the effects both quantitatively and qualitatively and followed up the volunteers a year on,\u201d explains Thom\u00e9e, who will present the results in her upcoming thesis. \u201cThe conclusion is that intensive use of ICT can have an impact on mental health among young adults.\u201d<\/p>\n Linked to depressive symptoms<\/strong><\/p>\n The studies reveal, for example, that heavy mobile use is linked to an increase in sleeping problems in men and an increase in depressive symptoms in both men and women<\/strong>. Late-night computer use a risk<\/strong><\/p>\n Frequently using a computer without breaks also increases the risk of stress, sleeping problems and depressive symptoms in women, whereas men who use computers intensively are more likely to develop sleeping problems.<\/p>\n \u201cRegularly using a computer late at night is associated not only with sleep disorders but also with stress and depressive symptoms in both men and women,\u201d says Thom\u00e9e.<\/p>\n Need for health advice<\/strong><\/p>\n A combination of both heavy computer use and heavy mobile use makes the association even stronger.<\/p>\n One conclusion is that public health advice to young people should include information on how to use ICT in a healthy way: From the University of Gothenburg press release via AlphaGalileo: Young adults who make particularly heavy use of mobile phones and computers run a greater risk of sleep disturbances, stress and… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,10],"tags":[262,49,12,362,62,235],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4103"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4103"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4103\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4132,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4103\/revisions\/4132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/images\/blogpics\/Insomnia.jpg\" "\\"insomnia\\"")
Young adults who make particularly heavy use of mobile phones and computers run a greater risk of sleep disturbances, stress and symptoms of mental health<\/strong>. \u201cPublic health advice should therefore include information on the healthy use of this technology,\u201d says researcher Sara Thom\u00e9e from the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThose who find the constant accessibility via mobile phones to be stressful are most likely to report mental symptoms,\u201d says Thom\u00e9e.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThis means taking breaks, taking time to recover after intensive use, and putting limits on your availability,\u201d Sara Thom\u00e9e explains.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"