Study links excessive screen time to psychological discomfort to adolescents

Teenagers who spend more than three hours a day dealing with sedentary behaviors – including video game games, leisure reading or screens – are at greater risk of dealing with psychological discomfort in the future, according to a study published by Newspaper of adolescent health.

On the other hand, moderate display exposure (between 60 and 119 minutes a day) was invested in educational activities, such as homework or courses, was regarded as a “protective” factor associated with less psychological discomfort.

The sedentary behavior between adolescents has become a growing problem worldwide, with significant impact on the physical and mental health of the population on this age group. Several studies have shown that the lack of physical activity, especially when combined with excessive use of electronic devices, helps increase problems such as obesity and cardiovascular disease.

In addition, a growing body of research shows that the effects of a sedentary lifestyle are not limited to the physical body, but can also affect mental health, increasing feelings of anxiety and depression, for example.

The study, conducted at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College, London in the United Kingdom, analyzed information from 3,675 adolescents who participated in the Millennium Corset study, a project that was born between 2000 and 2002 database.

The analysis included information on the sedentary behavior collected at two times: when teenagers were 14 years old and then at the age of 17. In the first phase, the participants completed a diary in which they recorded the various activities that performed every ten minutes. These activities were categorized in broader contexts: general physical activity, time dedicated to sleep, leisure time, non -display time and educational sedentary behavior.

At the age of 17, the same participants reported their psychological discomfort using a six -question questionnaire about their emotions, using a tool known as a Kessler scale. The questions included “how often in the last 30 days” the participant felt nervous, desperate, anxious, depressed, anxious and useless. The scale -based analysis showed whether or not it was in psychological discomfort.

According to André de Oliveira Werneck, author of the article and doctoral student at the Epidemiological Research Center for Nutrition and Health at the University of Sao Paulo School of Public Health (FSP-USP) in Brazil, the fact that the research was based on The answers to the sedentary behavior recorded in a diary are one of the differences that make the results so important.

Werneck explains that there are several ways to measure sedentary behavior. One of them, which is more objective, uses an accelerometer (a type of device that measures how much a person moves), but cannot distinguish between different sedentary activities, which are very wide.

Sitting behavior includes a variety of activities, such as the use of a computer, watching television, reading, listening to music or class monitoring. Most surveys are focused on analyzing the overall meeting time, but we can have positive sedentary activities such as class monitoring and homework, for example. And there are activities that are not beneficial, such as spending too much time on the internet or the reproduction of video games. ”

André de Oliveira Werneck, author of the article

A second method of measuring sedentary behavior is subjective, in which people answer a questionnaire about how much time they spend living, watching TV, playing video games, work or study in a standard week. However, it depends on the memory of the participant.

“Having a record of all the activities of these adolescents, formalized in a diary, provides a much more loyal result and has a more reliable accuracy of different times. It is not common to use this type of tool, precisely because it is difficult to apply “, says the doctoral student, who conducted the study as part of a research practice funded by FAPESP.

Impact of reading

To analyze the data, the researchers adapted to several variables, such as gender, parental education, net family income, parental psychological discomfort, body mass index, physical activity, overall sedentary time and depressive symptoms.

After crossing the information, they found that adolescents spent an average of four hours a day in educational sedentary behavior (school, at home) and about three hours a day on the screen and non -display behavior. Those who spent more than 180 minutes a day on screens for leisure were associated with more psychological discomfort at the age of 17.

Likewise – and amazingly – the researchers found that those who spent more than three hours a day reading for leisure (especially boys) also reported more psychological discomfort. According to the study, while previous research has shown that reading is related to better mental health results and other healthy behaviors, this new study suggests that excessive reading can be harmful in some cases.

One of the assumptions to explain this find, says Werneck, is that teens who spend many hours of reading “displacing” time that could be spent on face -to -face or outdoor social interactions, which are protective, leading in greater isolation. In addition, it is possible that some of the reading is done on screen devices (mobile phones, computers or tablets), which are also harmful – there are studies in adults that connect the screen reading to the poorest sleep due to exposure to blue light.

“This is an unexpected finding in the study, but it is important to emphasize that very few teenagers spend a lot of reading time for leisure. [video games] He was associated with worse psychological discomfort, while more time in educational activities he was associated with less anxiety, “he says.

Professor Brendon Stubbs, who oversees the study, told Agência Fapesp by email that the study has revealed several alarming standards. “We found that teenagers who spent more than three hours a day in screen -based leisure activities showed significantly greater psychological discomfort three years later.

According to Stubbs, the results indicate a clear dose-response relationship between excessive leisure screen time and future mental health results. “It is important that this relationship was environmentally dependent, which means that the screening time did not show the same negative results, stressing that the problem is not the use of the per se display, but how and why the screens are used.”

How to minimize the impact

Based on the findings, researchers suggest interventions that could help minimize negative psychological effects:

• Set clear limits to screen time: Apply guidelines that limit the entertainment screen time to less than three hours a day, as the results of the study show that this is when the risks increase significantly.

• Focus on the frame: Encourage more educational and structured screen activities rather than passive recreation time. The study found that the time of the training screen had no negative effects.

• Balance activities: Promoting alternative leisure activities with social interaction ingredients, as isolated screen time can contribute to psychological discomfort.

• Specific gender approaches: Consider personalized interventions, as work has found sex differences in the impact (eg girls were more connected to the use of the screen for internet browsing, boys for video games).

• Educational Support: Since moderate amounts of working and class time have been linked to less psychological discomfort, they ensure adequate academic commitment.

• Manage and optimize the screen time instead of completely eliminating it.

Werneck emphasizes that sedentary behavior is very complicated and for adolescents, each activity and framework must be evaluated separately. “We need to focus on interventions that not only reduce sedentary behavior but also reduce some specific and very large activities that are more related to psychological discomfort,” he concludes.