Those who spend more pre-bedtime hours using the Internet or watching television are more likely to report insufficient sleep, even though they sleep almost as long as people spending fewer pre-bedtime hours in front of a computer or television screen, survey findings show. “While many people use electronic media, say, the Internet, it should be noted that the longer media use before sleep can trigger (self-perceived) insufficient sleep,” lead researcher Dr Nakamori Suganuma, of Osaka University, Japan, told the reporter. He and colleagues obtained data on self-perceived sleep problems and the use of electronic media prior to bedtime from 5,875 altogether Japanese respondents in two separate Internet-based surveys. Their findings are published in Sleep and Biological Rhythms. Nearly half of the respondents associated their problem with electronic media use before bedtime. Longer electronic media users were also more likely to report insufficient sleep. “Overall, 29% of light users (less than 1.5 hours) listed electronic media use as a possible cause of their insufficient sleep. By comparison, 40% of medium users (1.5 to 3 hours) and 54% of heavy users (more than 3 hours) said the same. However, longer Internet and television use before bedtime did not correlate with less actual sleep. While heavy users averaged about 3 more hours in front of computer or television screens than light users, the heavy users averaged only about 12 minutes less pre-workday sleep time than light users. Notably, Suganuma said, "Internet use affected self-perceived insufficient sleep more than TV watching not only in younger Internet users but also in middle-aged or aged Internet users." Up to 38% of the respondents listed accessing the Internet far into the night as a possible cause for their sleep disturbance, while about 25% said watching television far into the night caused it. The findings suggest that while heavy computer and television use before bedtime has a small effect on sleep duration, it may have a more significant effect on "sleep demand and sleep quality," Suganuma notes. 小题1: Heavy computer and television user before bed time are more likely to be______ than light ones.
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