July 16, 2024Heavy social media use and poor sleep quality can alter brain activity related to executive function and reward processing in adolescents, suggest findings from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) presented last month at the SLEEP 2024 annual meeting.The findings demonstrate a strong correlation between greater social media use, shorter sleep duration, and lower activity in the inferior and middle frontal gyrus regions in the prefrontal cortex of adolescents ages 10 to 14.
The inferior frontal gyrus brain region influences inhibitory control; weakness in this region may impact how teens assess and respond to social media’s rewarding stimuli.
The middle frontal gyrus region is tied to executive function and decision-making, impacting how teens balance the immediate dopamine hits of social media with other priorities, like sleep.
AASM researchers analyzed data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study of 6,516 adolescents for the study.Prior research established a link between poor sleep hygiene and social media engagement.