Night texting affects teens sleep, academic performance

New York: Parents, take note! Night-time texting habits of teenagers may be to blame for their falling grades and increased yawning in school, a new study has found. Researchers from Rutgers University in US distributed survey to three New Jersey high schools and evaluated the 1,537 responses contrasting grades, sexes, messaging duration and whether the texting occurred before or after lights out.

They found that students who turned off their devices or who messaged for less than 30 minutes after lights out performed significantly better in school than those who messaged for more than 30 minutes after lights out. Students, who texted longer in the dark also slept fewer hours and were sleepier during the day than those who stopped messaging when they went to bed, texting before lights out did not affect academic performance, the study found.

"Students tend to go to sleep late and get up late. When we go against that natural rhythm, students become less efficient," said Xue Ming from Rutgers University. Although females reported more messaging overall and more daytime sleepiness, they had better academic performance than males. "I attribute this to the fact that the girls texted primarily before turning off the light," Ming said.