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Less screen time and more sleep critical for preventing depression

westernsydney.edu.au

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Re: Less screen time and more sleep critical for preventing depression

#2
I don’t know. I feel like screen time is a misnomer. From my anecdata less social media more sleep is the key. If my screen time is reading a kindle or learning programming I doubt the impact is so bad. Of course anything taken to an extreme...

Re: Less screen time and more sleep critical for preventing depression

#3
More sleep time is critical for preventing depression period. It is not rocket science. Everyone can tell from their own person experience.

Now it could be sometime when one is depressed one can't sleep. However, sleep pretty much helps every many things.

Re: Less screen time and more sleep critical for preventing depression

#4

More sleep time is critical for preventing depression period. It is not rocket science. Everyone can tell from their own person experience. Now it could be sometime when one is depressed one can't sleep. However, sleep pretty much helps every many things.

this is the reason why I think tech company ought to let employee sleep whenever they want as long as they want at work (not at meetings of course, although that is tempting sometimes), as long as they get their work done on time.

Re: Less screen time and more sleep critical for preventing depression

#5
Not all screen time is the same and it’s far beyond time for us to stop equivocating Facebook/Instagram and other social media nastiness with all the positive things that can be done on a screen.

It confuses people, and as we stare down another quarantine and a long cold winter telling people to spend less time with what could be their only contact to the outside world can be actively harmful.

Re: Less screen time and more sleep critical for preventing depression

#6

I don’t know. I feel like screen time is a misnomer. From my anecdata less social media more sleep is the key. If my screen time is reading a kindle or learning programming I doubt the impact is so bad. Of course anything taken to an extreme...

This and endless reloads of news sites

Re: Less screen time and more sleep critical for preventing depression

#7
post #5

Not all screen time is the same and it’s far beyond time for us to stop equivocating Facebook/Instagram and other social media nastiness with all the positive things that can be done on a screen. It confuses people, and as we stare down another quarantine and a long cold winter telling people to spend less time with what could be their only contact to the outside world can be actively harmful.

Agreed computers are tools for productivity and entertainment. You should set yourself up for success and utilize your machine/time accordingly. These are the first steps to exiting the screen time nightmare one may find themselves in.

Re: Less screen time and more sleep critical for preventing depression

#8
post #5

Not all screen time is the same and it’s far beyond time for us to stop equivocating Facebook/Instagram and other social media nastiness with all the positive things that can be done on a screen. It confuses people, and as we stare down another quarantine and a long cold winter telling people to spend less time with what could be their only contact to the outside world can be actively harmful.

I just read the abstracts of one of the studies[1] and it's really including TV and general computer time, not necessarily social media time.

It also references a study that seems to focus more on computer time and "information" overload (at least from the abstract).[2]

I think it's a mistake to assume that sedentary screen time is not impactful so long as you're avoiding social media.

[1] https://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s1291...

[2] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31059635/

Re: Less screen time and more sleep critical for preventing depression

#9

More sleep time is critical for preventing depression period. It is not rocket science. Everyone can tell from their own person experience. Now it could be sometime when one is depressed one can't sleep. However, sleep pretty much helps every many things.

But not too much. I used to sleep 10-12 hours during depressive episodes when I had nothing important to do, it just makes things worse.

Over 7-8 hours of sleep just makes me tired and sleepy the whole day (paradoxical, yeah).

Forcing a limit helps a lot more.

Re: Less screen time and more sleep critical for preventing depression

#10
post #5

Not all screen time is the same and it’s far beyond time for us to stop equivocating Facebook/Instagram and other social media nastiness with all the positive things that can be done on a screen. It confuses people, and as we stare down another quarantine and a long cold winter telling people to spend less time with what could be their only contact to the outside world can be actively harmful.

I think a lot of people perhaps underestimate the value of an iPad that's not signed in to anything, and is just loaded chock full of epubs (and perhaps offline maps). You don't even need to turn on the Wi-Fi.

Computers can be simple tools for reading and study, if you want them to be, and make deliberate choices to that end.

The last few months I've spent a lot of time consciously re-engineering my screen time into what I want it to be and do, not what is easiest or most convenient. Getting off of most mainstream social media has helped tremendously, as it's truly insidious how engineered it is to seem like the most important, engaging thing in the world.

I'm doing much better now that I'm not exposed to strangers screaming about nonsense for a few hours each day.

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