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Mobile Phone Use After Lights Out-Van den Bulck Disclosure StatementThis was not an industry supported study. Dr. Van den Bulck has indicated no financial conflicts of interest.

Findings suggest that bedtime mobile phone use is negatively related to sleep outcomes in adults, too. It warrants continued scholarly attention as the functionalities of mobile phones evolve rapidly and exponentially.

Using media as a sleep aid appears to be common practice among adolescents. Those who reported using music, television, and computer games more often as a sleeping aid slept fewer hours and were significantly more tired.

Study Objectives: To investigate the prevalence of binge viewing, its association with sleep and examine arousal as an underlying mechanism of this association. Methods: Four hundred twenty-three adults (aged 18-25 years old, 61.9% female) completed an online survey assessing regular television viewing, binge viewing, sleep quality (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index), fatigue (Fatigue Assessment Scale), insomnia (Bergen Insomnia Scale), and pre-sleep arousal (Pre-Sleep Arousal Scale). Regression analyses were conducted. Mediation analysis was performed using PROCESS Macro. Results: There were 80.6% who identified themselves as a binge viewer. Among those who binge viewed (n = 341), 20.2% had binge viewed at least a few times a week during the past month. Among poor sleepers (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index > 5), 32.6% had a poor sleep quality associated with being a binge viewer. Higher binge viewing frequency was associated with a poorer sleep quality, increased fatigue and more symptoms of insomnia, whereas regular television viewing was not. Cognitive pre-sleep arousal fully mediated these relationships. Conclusions: New viewing styles such as binge viewing are increasingly prevalent and may pose a threat to sleep. Increased cognitive arousal functions as the mechanism explaining these effects. Measures of media exposure should take into account the user's level of engagement with media. Interventions aimed at (1) alerting viewers about excessive viewing duration and (2) reducing arousal before sleep may be useful ways to tackle sleep problems in binge viewers.

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The present study examines the energy intake resulting from eating snacks en drinking energy containing drinks while watching television. 2546 1 st and 4 th year students in a random sample of 15 secondary schools in Flanders, Belgium received quantifiable, closed survey questions about average weekly TV viewing volume and about eating 5 types of snacks and drinking 2 types of soft drinks. On average, the respondents watched 22:27 hours of television per week (SD=11:53). Only 3.5 % of the adolescents never eat snacks or drink soft drinks while they watch TV. Estimated daily energy intake accompanying TV viewing amounts to 19 % of the Belgian average energy allowance (AEA) in boys and between 12 and 14 % of AEA in girls.On average one hour of watching television equals the consumption of 653Kilojoules.