A new UC Davis Health study published in Psychological Medicine suggests that when it comes to helping adolescents succeed in school and maintain healthy friendships, sleep may matter more than screen time, exercise or diet. This was particularly true for youth experiencing anxiety, depression or other mental health challenges.
Researchers examined how four lifestyle factors — sleep quality, screen time, physical activity and diet — influenced the relationship between mental health symptoms and academic and social functioning in children ages 10 to 13. They found that sleep was the strongest factor associated with better grades and fewer social problems. Screen time was the second strongest factor.
“This finding surprised us,” said Jason Smucny, the study’s first author and a computational neuroscientist in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. “We expected sleep to be important, but we didn’t expect it to stand out so clearly above other lifestyle factors, particularly screen time.”