Turning over dozens of times in bed watching the hours go by, scrutinizing the ceiling, trying to count sheep and wondering what state we’re going to be in the next day, it’s happened to all of us at least once. But young people are particularly prone to this type of sleep disorder. This is what emerges from the #MoiJeune* study carried out by 20 minutes.
Half of the 18-30 year olds surveyed sleep less than seven hours a night on weekdays. It is much less than what is recommended. According to Armelle Rancillac, Inserm neuroscientist at the College de France and sleep specialist, a teenager needs to sleep between eight and ten hours a night.
A physiological explanation
If he needs to sleep more than an adult, it’s because he’s going through physiological changes. In adolescence and early adulthood, slow-wave sleep is less deep and therefore less restorative. But that’s not all. “Sleep plays a role in cerebral plasticity and memory, underlines Virginie Sterpenich, researcher in neuroscience at the University of Geneva. When you are young, you learn a lot of things so you need to sleep more to assimilate everything. »
Changes in the biological clock, making young people night owls/late risers, must also be taken into account. “We are at the peak of this change at 19 for women and 21 for men,” adds the researcher. In the evening, they don’t feel the pressure to go to bed, and in the morning, they don’t feel like getting up. And the start time of classes does not adapt to this physiological change, which explains the figures of our study: 63% of 18-30 year olds have difficulty waking up, including 41% regularly.
Young people sleep badly and little
The average duration of a night for a French person during the week is 6:41, according to the National Institute of Sleep and Vigilance (INSV). A number that has been falling for years. In addition to this too short rest, there are sleep disorders. More than one in four young people (28%) regularly have difficulty falling asleep and more than one in three (31%) wake up regularly at night. 91% of the 18-30 year olds questioned therefore experience at least one of these disorders regularly or occasionally (67% regularly). And among them, 13% even call themselves insomniacs, a figure that rises to 18% among girls.
To understand these figures, several factors come into play, in particular that of the activity carried out just before dozing off. 60% of young people surveyed watch a series, film or other video before sleeping. 45% kill time by scrolling on social networks. Only 29%, or less than one in three, choose to open a book or comic.
Blue light from screens prevents you from sleeping
And according to our two specialists, the main culprit is him: the screen. The biological clock, also called circadian rhythm, which tells us when to wake up and when to go to bed, is regulated by light, social interactions or even temperature.
When you look at your cell phone, tablet or computer, blue light arrives directly in the suprachiasmatic nucleus, the part of the brain responsible for controlling this famous circadian rhythm. “When the photoreceptors in our eyes, which are used to perceive light, perceive it, they send the information to the brain telling it that it is not time to sleep”, sums up the researcher. In addition, exposure to light inhibits the synthesis of melatonin, the hormone that makes it easier to fall asleep.
Notifications and “emotionally strong” content
Whether it’s because you’re a worried parent waiting to hear from your newest kid out partying, a chilled lover waiting for a text from your new crush or you’re just someone who doesn’t want to miss a thing, we sometimes leave our phone on vibrate mode. This creates flashes of light that disturb sleep. “It takes at least three seconds of wakefulness to create a memory, recalls the neuroscientist. If with each notification, we wake up, even for a single second and without realizing it, our night will be fragmented. »
And putting on a blue light filter solves nothing according to Virginie Sterpenich because the content can be “emotionally strong”. Watching his number of likes on Instagram or waiting for the reactions under his tweet are all adrenaline rushes that are not conducive to falling asleep.
Stress, difficulty letting go and mental load
Yet screens and social networks only come in third place (28%) of the causes of sleep disorders cited by the young people we interviewed. Well before (43%), they blame their difficulty in letting go and stopping to think. This figure climbs to 54% among women. Stress and mental workload are cited at the same level, at 43% (36% for men and 48% for women).
These figures are hardly surprising in view of the latest studies on the mental health of young people. 20.8% of 18-24 year olds experienced a depressive episode in 2021, according to Public Health France, compared to 11.7% four years earlier. Young women are more affected (26.5%) than young men (15.2%). “There is a very strong link between mental disorders and sleep disorders,” confirms Armelle Rancillac. Being anxious or depressed can lead to insomnia. And this sleep deprivation will make it difficult to regulate your emotions. A bad mood that will complicate the return to appeasement, which facilitates falling asleep. A vicious circle. Sleep is also essential for memorizing and concentrating. 77% of 18-30 year olds surveyed mentioned concentration and memory problems, 67% mood swings and irritability and 66% anxiety and/or depression.
A few tips
Faced with this major problem, what to do? Among the 91% of 18-30 year olds who experience at least one sleep disorder regularly or occasionally, 14% take sleeping pills and 4% daily. A false good idea according to the researcher: “sleeping pills seem to be the simplest solution for sleeping, but in reality you have to tackle the causes of insomnia. Also, sleeping pills do not create restful sleep. Apart from some purely physical cases such as sleep apnea, most sleep disorders can be reversed by therapy.
A few tips, in bulk, from our two experts, to succeed in closing your eyes: take your mobile phone out of your room, have a regular sleep pattern, do not take a nap at the end of the afternoon or do sports or drink too much alcohol, soda or coffee before going to bed and, if possible, have a room conducive to falling asleep, with no noise and no light. Last advice: mark the difference between the place of awakening and the place of sleep by avoiding watching a series in bed before going to bed, for example. Now, we let you test all that.