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. 2025 Dec 3;4(1):2594799. doi: 10.1080/28324765.2025.2594799

The interplay between social media use, poor sleep, and disordered eating: a narrative review

Silvia Cerolini a,*, Genevieve P Nowicki b, Rachel F Rodgers b,c,d
PMCID: PMC12677040  PMID: 41356794

ABSTRACT

Emerging evidence suggests a complex, potentially reciprocal relationship between social media use, poor sleep, and disordered eating, each associated with negative mental and physical health outcomes. This mini-narrative review synthesizes recent findings on the bidirectional links between: 1) poor sleep and disordered eating, 2) social media use and poor sleep, and 3) social media use and disordered eating. It also explores their combined interplay and outlines possible underlying mechanisms across biological, psychological, and sociocultural domains. Despite some novel findings, the temporal and reciprocal nature of their relationships remains underexplored and requires further empirical research. This review highlights the urgent need for prospective, ecologically valid research that addresses these domains and interconnections, particularly among youth and emerging adults who may be particularly vulnerable to their cumulative effects. A deeper understanding of this interplay may be critical for advancing preventive and therapeutic efforts and developing transdiagnostic clinical strategies and public health guidelines that reflect the integrated nature of digital engagement, sleep health, and appearance and eating-related stimuli.

KEYWORDS: Poor sleep, social media use, disordered eating, interplay, eating disorders, sleep

Introduction

Increasing evidence has linked high social media use, especially problematic use, to poor sleep quality and negative mental health in youth, including disordered eating and body image concerns, anxiety, depression, and psychological distress (Alonzo et al., 2021; Mazzeo et al., 2024; Sharma & Vidal, 2023). Recent meta–analytic results corroborate these findings, highlighting the association between problematic social media use and higher depression, anxiety, and sleep problems, and lower levels of well–being (Ahmed et al., 2024). However, the strength of these relations may vary according to the quantity and quality of social media use. Indeed, increasing evidence suggests that time spent online, by itself, may be one of the weakest predictors of mental health outcomes (Ahmed et al., 2024). The potential maladaptive use of social media, often referred to as problematic social media use or social media addiction, has been the subject of empirical studies over the past decade. It is important to distinguish between general social media use (i.e. time spent or frequency of access) and problematic social media use, described as a maladaptive pattern of engagement characterized by addiction–like symptoms, compulsivity, and lack of self–control over use. These terms are not interchangeable, as only problematic use has been consistently associated with worse health outcomes (Ahmed et al., 2024; Bányai et al., 2017; Casale et al., 2018; Marino et al., 2018).

Disordered eating refers to a range of irregular eating behaviors and attitudes–including restriction, binge eating, purging, or compulsive exercise–that may not meet full diagnostic criteria for an eating disorder but still cause significant distress or impairment. Poor sleep, similarly, encompasses various disturbances including short sleep duration, insomnia symptoms, low sleep quality, fragmented or non‑restorative sleep, and disruptions in sleep timing or circadian rhythm. Therefore, it refers to both subjective and objective aspects (duration, quality, and the presence of sleep–related symptoms).

Both conditions are highly prevalent and clinically significant in youth and young adults (Cerolini et al., 2025).

The overarching aim of this paper is to critically evaluate the current literature, synthesize emerging evidence, highlight consistencies and limitations, and identify future directions to prioritize areas for additional research With this in mind, the mini–narrative review summarizes the most recent findings in the field, with a central focus on the interplay between problematic social media use, disordered eating, and poor sleep. The review starts by examinining of the bidirectional relationships between 1) poor sleep and disordered eating; 2) problematic social media use and poor sleep; and 3) problematic social media use and disordered eating behavior. Next, interrelationships among these three constructs is explored.

Poor sleep and disordered eating

Poor sleep and disordered eating are the most common mental health issues reported by the general population (Alfalahi et al., 2021; Morin & Jarrin, 2022), especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, which triggered, maintained, or exacerbated symptoms related to these two areas (Lin et al., 2021; Luijten et al., 2021; Rodgers et al., 2020). Indeed, higher rates of chronic insomnia and eating disorder symptoms have been reported by adolescents and adults (Mahmud et al., 2022; Zipfel et al., 2022). In some youth populations, prevalence estimates suggest that up to 20–30% of individuals report significant insomnia symptoms, and disordered eating behaviors may affect a similar proportion (Opitz et al., 2025b).

Sleep and eating are crucial physiological functions that support both mental and physical health, and a growing body of research supports their association (e.g. Bos et al., 2013; Kant & Graubard, 2014). Direct and indirect evidence of this association can be derived mainly from: a) cross–sectional and longitudinal studies linking poor sleep to eating disorders (e.g. Degasperi et al., 2024) or higher weight (Bacaro et al., 2020; Cerolini & Lombardo, 2023); b) experimental studies testing the effect of sleep deprivation on eating behavior and food intake (e.g. Cerolini et al., 2018; Lombardo et al., 2020); and c) studies examining the effect of poor sleep quantity or quality on emotion regulation and executive functions involved in self–regulation of eating behavior (e.g. Cedernaes et al., 2014; Cerolini et al., 2020).

Overall, these findings have demonstrated that poor sleep (e.g. insomnia or sleep deprivation) has been associated with disordered eating, impairments in cognitive and emotional functioning, and biological and neural changes implicated in altered eating behavior. Changes in eating behavior associated with poor sleep include increased food intake, and separately, disordered eating behaviors including binge eating, purging, dietary restriction, and/or fasting (Irish et al., 2024). These associations are influenced by biological (e.g. metabolic and endocrine imbalances that can lead to an alteration of appetitive hormones, glucose metabolism, or cortisol level), cognitive/neural (e.g. alterations in executive functions or in brain regions implicated in reward and decision–making processes), emotional (e.g. changes in emotional functioning that could impair emotion regulation and emotion reactivity, increased negative affect), and behavioral pathways (e.g. changes in behavioral functioning due to decreased energy) (Cerolini, 2022).

Notably, poor sleep and disordered eating often co–occur, with each potentially exacerbating the other (Degasperi et al., 2024). Sleep disturbances may elevate the risk of developing eating disorders, while disordered or irregular eating habits can likewise interfere with sleep patterns (Allison et al., 2016). In non–clinical populations, findings from a recent meta–analysis (Opitz et al., 2025b) showed that loss of control eating and excessive exercise were significantly associated with poorer sleep quality and insomnia symptoms. However, results were mixed for restrictive eating and body image concerns. Disordered eating behaviors had mostly small or non–significant links with sleep duration. This supports the idea that sleep problems are a transdiagnostic correlate of disordered eating, but also reveals variability across behaviors that warrants further study. In clinical populations, another meta–analytic study consistently reported similar patterns: individuals with eating disorders consistently experience poor sleep quality, which intensifies ED symptoms and hinders recovery, even after effective psychotherapy (Degasperi et al., 2024). Particularly, eating disorder patients (i.e. with Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, and Binge Eating Disorder) showed significant differences in physiological sleep parameters compared to healthy controls: low sleep efficiency, total sleep time, and slow wave sleep, and subjective sleep quality, as well as longer time spent awake during the night (Degasperi et al., 2024).

Researchers are therefore increasingly questioning the direction of this relationship. For example, in a recent longitudinal study, Opitz et al. (2025a) found that while sleep at age 14 did not predict restrictive eating three years later, restrictive eating did predict poorer sleep quality at age 17, with depressive symptoms acting as a full mediating factor in this relationship. Similarly, Sun et al. (2025) reported that insomnia symptoms predicted later eating disorder symptoms (at six months follow–up), and vice versa, in a large sample of college students. These findings underscore the need to examine reciprocal and mediated pathways.

Problematic social media use and poor sleep

The relationship between social media use and mental health is complex and multifaceted, with sleep being potentially one of the factors contributing to this relationship. Sleep problems, such as short sleep duration, poor sleep quality, sleep disturbances, and insomnia, are highly correlated with mental health issues worldwide (Galan-Lopez et al., 2021; Gradisar et al., 2011; Morin & Jarrin, 2022). Poor sleep has also been linked to greater behavioral difficulties (e.g. behavioral planning and initiation) among adolescents and adults (Combs et al., 2016; Hertenstein et al., 2023; Palagini et al., 2022; Sadeh, 2007). A growing body of research suggests that the use of screen–based electronic devices, particularly before bedtime, contributes to poor sleep hygiene and unhelpful pre–sleep behaviors, such as using electronic devices in bed or consuming caffeinated beverages, and that these relationships may be particularly pronounced for adolescents (Crowley et al., 2018). For example, using mobile phones or computers for playing, web surfing, and texting in bed has been associated with increased insomnia severity (Fossum et al., 2014). Similarly, Gradisar et al. (2013) found that using interactive technology (e.g. smartphones, laptops, and video game consoles) during the hour before bed was linked to greater difficulty falling asleep and unrefreshing sleep.

Systematic reviews generally support an inverse relationship where greater social media use correlates with poorer sleep quality (Alonzo et al., 2021; Kaur et al., 2021). Moreover, meta‑analytic work (Ahmed et al., 2024) that included nearly 100 studies found an overall small but significant association between problematic social media use and sleep problems, although effect sizes varied across studies depending on how poor sleep was measured. In their review, general social media use was not significantly associated with sleep, which suggests that this topic warrants further study and replication (Ahmed et al., 2024).

Growing evidence has suggested a bidirectional relationship between problematic social media use and poor sleep, wherein each may contribute to the development and maintenance of the other (Ahmed et al., 2024). On one hand, problematic social media use may disrupt sleep patterns through behavioral mechanisms, such as excessive nighttime use and emotionally arousing content. On the other hand, insufficient or poor–quality sleep may increase reliance on social media as a maladaptive coping strategy to manage fatigue, boredom, or emotional distress. Based on the existing literature, several explanatory pathways can be hypothesized, involving behavioral, emotional, biological, and sociocultural mechanisms.

Behaviorally, problematic social media use may interfere with healthy pre–sleep routines by delaying bedtime or extending screen time while in bed, which disrupts the psychophysiological deactivation (i.e. hypoarousal) required to initiate and maintain sleep. The use of screens before bedtime is also known to suppress the production of melatonin, a hormone essential for regulating the sleep–wake cycle, due to exposure to blue light (Chang et al., 2015). Furthermore, emotionally charged or cognitively stimulating social media interactions may increase cognitive and emotional arousal, which has been identified as a core maintaining factor in insomnia (Espie et al., 2006).

Conversely, disrupted or insufficient sleep may lead to increased social media use, as individuals often turn to their devices during prolonged sleep onset latency or nocturnal awakenings. This compensatory behavior can reinforce problematic usage patterns and further exacerbate sleep difficulties, contributing to a vicious cycle of maladaptive digital engagement and sleep disturbance (Levenson et al., 2017).

Another relevant mechanism, encompassing emotional and sociocultural components, involves the concept of telepressure, defined as the preoccupation with and urge to respond promptly to messages, emails, or notifications (Barber & Santuzzi, 2017). Telepressure is often driven by the desire to maintain positive social relationships and adhere to perceived communication norms (Rogers & Barber, 2019). This persistent sense of obligation can lead to poor sleep hygiene, delayed sleep onset, and nighttime awakenings, further interfering with sleep quality (Rogers & Barber, 2019).

Despite promising advances in understanding these associations, the temporal sequence and directionality of the relationship between problematic social media use and poor sleep remain unclear. This remains an urgent area for future longitudinal and ecologically valid research.

Social media use and disordered eating

The relationship between social media use and disordered eating is hypothesized to be potentiated by two processes identified in the dual pathway model (Stice et at., 1998), namely heightened appearance concerns and negative affect. Regarding the first of these pathways, social media portrays a disproportionate amount of idealized imagery that promotes unrealistic and unattainable appearance ideals and thus creates appearance concerns, that in turn may lead to disordered eating behaviors, through the perceived discrepancy between individuals’ appearance and these unrealistic images (Fioravanti et al., 2022). It should be noted that the unrealistic nature of social media imagery is further exacerbated by the ways in which these images are digitally modified and edited, such that the appearances portrayed are highly unachievable. Moreover, users may be exposed to content that normalizes disordered eating behaviors by offering highly restrictive diet suggestions, or excessive exercise plans that promise to move users’ bodies closer to appearance ideals. Exposure to this content occurs through individuals seeking out, or following, content focused on appearance as well as through recommended content curated by machine learning algorithms. In addition to the effects of exposure to unrealistic images, social media provides opportunities for users to create content, and to interact with content created by others. Both the investment in creating one’s own content and the interacting (or witnessing such interactions) with the content of others may also contribute to the development and maintenance of disordered eating behaviors through the emphasis on the centrality of appearance to identity and self–esteem, as well as the reinforcement of social norms regarding which appearances are desirable (Choukas-Bradley et al., 2025). In this way, receiving and witnessing the positive feedback garnered by social media content that portrays appearance ideals and the negative and often hurtful feedback received by content that does not, are powerful forces for reaffirming the importance of meeting unrealistic appearance standards, and may contribute to disordered eating. Within this framework, the ways in which disordered eating may impact social media use should also be considered. In particular, individuals with disordered eating may use social media to obtain information regarding unhealthy weight control behaviors. Additionally, however, the patterns of social media use demonstrated by individuals with disordered eating may constitute a recognizable imprint for the machine learning models that suggest content to users, which leads them to receive increased content related to appearance and eating without the user deliberately seeking it out (Griffiths et al., 2024).

Empirical evidence has overall supported the role of appearance content in underpinning the relationship between social media use and disordered eating (Sanzari et al., 2023) Meta–analytic work has documented robust, albeit small (r = .20), associations between appearance–focused social media use and body image concerns (Saiphoo & Vahedi, 2019). Moreover, support has been found for a relationship (r = .19) between social media use and disordered eating outcomes (Zhang et al., 2021). In addition, cross–sectional evidence has supported the relationship between higher investment in photo–related activities and online self–presentations and body image and eating concerns (McLean et al., 2015; Rodgers et al., 2020).

The second proposed pathway involves negative affect and emotional regulation. Beyond the effects of viewing unrealistic appearances, social media use may be associated with both positive and negative emotional effects. Social media platforms are profit–driven and as such, utilize a number of strategies to increase user engagement. These include the promotion of emotionally–activating content that is likely to increase negative, as well as positive, emotions (Kross et al., 2021). For many individuals, in addition, social media use may constitute an emotion regulation strategy (Zsido et al., 2021). Again, the reverse pathways should also be considered. Individuals with disordered eating may be more likely to search for content that is idealized and experience heightened negative affect when engaging with it. In addition, the selective attention of individuals with disordered eating to appearance and eating–related stimuli and likely heightened reactivity may lead this group to experience more emotional activation when using social media. Empirical evidence has also overall supported the role of social media use in increasing negative affect (Abbasi & Drouin, 2019), and individuals with disordered eating have been documented as more likely to experience problematic social media use and difficulties in regulating their engagement (Rodgers & Melioli, 2016).

In conclusion, while evidence converges on small but consistent associations, directional and moderating factors (e.g. type of content, individual vulnerability) remain underexplored. Many studies are cross–sectional and rely on self–report measures, limiting causal inference. The heterogeneity in how ‘user engagement’ or ‘investment in social media’ is measured further complicates comparability across studies.

Relationships among poor sleep, disordered eating, and social media use

As described above, bidirectional relationships between (a) sleep and eating disturbances, (b) problematic social media use and poor sleep, and (c) problematic social media use and disordered eating, suggest the presence of a complex and dynamic interplay among these variables. To our knowledge, no theoretical framework proposed thus far has accounted for the relationships among all three outcomes, nor has any empirical work examined the relationships among all three. Given these gaps in the literature, we will next outline potential ways in which these three outcomes may mutually reinforce each other and promote their respective maintenance from a biopsychosocial framework.

Common risk factors, maintenance mechanisms, and modulators

The interplay between poor sleep, disordered eating, and problematic social media use may be considered through the conceptualization of common modulators. As illustrated in Figure 1, each of the three outcomes is inherently multifaceted, with numerous potential pathways linking them, likely driven by multiple underlying mechanisms.

Figure 1.

Figure 1.

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The schematic illustration of the interplay between the three constructs.

Biological

Biological factors that might be relevant here include hormones, neural pathways and neurotransmitters, and inflammatory processes. Considering hormones, several may be implicated in the associations among poor sleep, social media use, and disordered eating. Cortisol, a stress hormone, is increased during HPA axis activation, which may be triggered by emotionally salient social media content (Afifi et al., 2018). Further, disordered eating, particularly excessive restriction, and poor sleep, have been shown to increase cortisol levels (Nakamura et al., 2016). Thus, cortisol and the HPA axis may modulate these relationships. Late–night social media use may disrupt circadian rhythms and lead to shifts in hunger–regulating hormones such as ghrelin and leptin (Chaput et al., 2023), which could render individuals at risk for binging and binge–restrict eating patterns (Germain et al., 2010; Seidel et al., 2021). Regarding neural pathways, dopamine–rich brain regions such as the prefrontal cortex are implicated in reward processing and executive functioning, and may link problematic social media use, disordered eating, and poor sleep (Brand et al., 2014). For example, social media platforms are designed to deliver unpredictable, highly salient rewards and punishments (e.g. likes, positive or negative comments), which may dysregulate these dopaminergic brain regions (Tereshchenko, 2023). These dopaminergic systems have been implicated in eating disorders such as bulimia, anorexia, and binge eating disorder, and dopamine is highly implicated in sleep (Kontis & Theochari, 2012; Monti & Monti, 2007; Yu et al., 2022). Therefore, dysregulated dopaminergic activity may be implicated as both a risk and maintenance factor. Finally, inflammatory processes may connect poor sleep, disordered eating, and social media use. Poor sleep is linked to elevated inflammatory markers including C–reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin−6 (IL−6) (Huang et al., 2017). These inflammatory markers are associated with addiction (Morcuende et al., 2021; Wei et al., 2020), and preliminary research has identified an association between elevated CRP and social media use (Lee et al., 2023). Further, patterns of CRP elevation and reduction exist according to eating disorder diagnosis, with elevations associated with binge eating disorder and reductions associated with anorexia (Xu et al., 2025). Therefore, it is possible that inflammation triggered by poor sleep, disordered eating, or other factors may predispose or maintain disordered eating and problematic social media use. Given the lack of extant literature equipped to examine the theoretical position of each potential mechanism (e.g. risk factor or maintenance factor) it is critical to consider all possible temporal positions and roles these biological factors may play as theoretical models of sleep, social media use, and disordered eating are developed.

Psychological

Regarding psychological factors, one mechanism that might account for these relationships is emotional regulation difficulties. Indeed, emotional regulation difficulties have been shown to play a role in disordered eating (Leppanen et al., 2022), as well as dysregulated social media use (Zsido et al., 2021), and sleep disorders (Cerolini & Lombardo, 2022; Fairholme & Manber, 2015; Zagaria et al., 2023). Individuals who experience difficulties with emotional regulation are often observed to engage in problematic behaviors both as a result of poor regulation and as a coping mechanism (i.e. an inappropriate behavioral effort to regulate). In this way, disordered eating behaviors have been described as being predicted by poor emotional regulation but also serving a maintaining function (Leppanen et al., 2022). Similarly, compulsive or problematic social media use has been described as arising in the context of poor emotional regulation, and as a means to self–regulate (Zsido et al., 2021). Sleep disturbances are also more likely to occur in individuals with poor emotional regulation, and similarly, poor sleep behaviors have been described as an ineffective coping mechanism (Kroese et al., 2016). Thus, emotional regulation difficulties may be viewed as a potential common risk and maintenance factor for these three presentations.

Another psychological factor of potential relevance is cognitive style. For example, individuals with high levels of rumination and perfectionism have been shown to be at higher risk of disordered eating (Smith et al., 2018). Similarly, higher levels of perfectionism and rumination have been shown to predict sleep disturbance (Azevedo et al., 2010) and problematic online behaviors (Castro-Calvo et al., 2022). Thus, these cognitive facets may also constitute common pathways to the three outcomes of interest.

Sociocultural

Regarding sociocultural factors, previous work has described how pressures towards unrealistic appearances and materialistic success may be associated with eating and sleep disturbances and as well as social media use. Appearance pressures and the pursuit of unattainable appearance ideals have been shown to be associated with disordered eating, as well as appearance–oriented social media use (Cafri et al., 2005). In addition, pressures to pursue materialistic success have also been shown to be associated with disordered eating, social media use (Chu et al., 2016; Eli & Lavis, 2022), and even with dream contents, suggesting a relationship with sleep parameters (Kasser & Kasser, 2001). This materialism has been further linked to the phenomenon ‘fear of missing out’ (FoMO), known as ‘a pervasive apprehension that others might be having rewarding experiences from which one is absent’ (Przybylski et al., 2013, p. 1841), and problematic smartphone use (Long et al., 2021). As well as other evidence showing an interaction among FoMO, poor sleep quality, social media addiction, and negative affect (Li et al., 2020). The concept of FoMO or telepressure (i.e. the felt need to respond quickly to notifications or maintain online presence) may mediate the impact of problematic social media use on both sleep and psychological distress (Barber & Santuzzi, 2017; Rogers & Barber, 2019). In vulnerable individuals, such as those with body image concerns or underlying anxiety, the cognitive and emotional load of telepressure may worsen sleep onset latency, increase nighttime arousal, and predispose to maladaptive emotion regulation and disordered eating. Interventional studies addressing these concepts may help in buffering the detrimental effects on mental health and well–being (Rogers & Barber, 2019). In conclusion, we note that the broader context around consumption, physical ideals, material value, and pressures may constitute a common pathway to all three outcomes.

Other potential mediators and moderators

In addition to the biological, psychological, and sociocultural risk factors already discussed, several psychological and behavioral processes may help explain how sleep disturbances, disordered eating, and problematic social media use interact and exacerbate one another.

One mediator that has received consistent empirical attention is depression (or more broadly, negative affect). Depressive symptoms are frequently found to mediate links between poor sleep and disordered eating (e.g. poor sleep leads to depressive mood, which in turn promotes maladaptive eating, Cerolini et al., 2018) and vice versa, restrictive eating may lead to depressed mood, which in turn worsens sleep (Opitz et al., 2025a). Similarly, depressive symptoms might mediate links between problematic social media use and both sleep disturbance and disordered eating. For instance, problematic social media engagement has been associated with elevated depression (Ahmed et al., 2024), which itself is well linked to sleep disturbance (e.g. insomnia, fragmented sleep) and to disordered or emotional eating. While specific longitudinal mediation models integrating all three constructs are still scarce, depression remains a plausible ‘central node’ in their interplay. Additionally, a strong empirical basis exists for the mediating and moderating role of physical activity in sleep–eating pathways. For example, a recent study among Chinese college students (Zhou et al., 2024) examined how depression mediated the link between sleep quality and emotional eating, and tested whether physical activity levels moderate this mediation. They found that for students with low physical activity, depression significantly predicted emotional eating, whereas this association was non–significant among students with moderate or high activity levels. In other words, higher physical activity attenuated the effect of depression on emotional eating in the context of poor sleep. Other studies also support the more general associations: low physical activity is associated with poorer sleep, and may exacerbate vulnerability to impaired executive function, thus leading to emotional dysregulation and disordered eating (Belluardo et al., 2025). Also, a study by Xiao et al. (2024) showed that low physical activity not only has a direct negative effect on sleep disorders but also indirectly predicts sleep disorders through the mediation of anxiety and mobile phone dependence.

It is also plausible that sedentary behavior, often associated with prolonged screen time and social media use, may exacerbate negative emotional states, thereby contributing to poorer sleep and riskier eating behaviors.

Potential temporal pathways and reciprocity

In addition to these common risk factors and maintenance mechanisms, it is possible that different facets of eating and sleep disturbance and social media use might maintain and exacerbate each other through their reciprocal relationships and mediated pathways. Thus, for example, initial shape and weight concerns might lead to greater appearance–focused social media use through efforts to obtain strategies or information of how to modify appearance, which in turn could impact sleep, leading to greater difficulties regulating appearance preoccupations and perhaps appetite. Resulting efforts to control and modify shape and weight could lead to dietary restriction, which in turn further deteriorates sleep. Early waking and reduced sleep could lead to greater social media engagement, again further exacerbating difficulties. Similarly, initial episodic sleep disturbance could lead to reduced regulation of appetite and social media use, both increasing sleep difficulties, which further exacerbate loss of control eating and problematic social media use. Finally, social media engagement may be considered as a direct risk factor for the development and maintenance of eating and sleep disorders as well as a potentiator of other factors implicated in the development and maintenance of eating and sleep disorders. Evidence exists to support the role of social media in predicting appearance concerns (De Valle et al., 2021), and to a lesser extent, disordered eating (Dane & Bhatia, 2023). Evidence also exists to support the role of social media engagement and problematic use in the development of sleep disorders (Kaur et al., 2021). In addition to these direct pathways, social media use may indirectly influence eating disorder risk and sleep disturbance through previously discussed factors such as appearance concerns and negative affect. Taken together, therefore, multiple pathways from social media use to eating and sleep disturbance may exist. These examples are not exhaustive and designed to be illustrative of the ways in which the interplay among symptoms of eating and sleep disturbance, and aspects of social media use may lead to a progressive exacerbation of difficulties in the three areas.

Discussion and future directions

The potential reciprocal relationships among poor sleep, disordered eating, and problematic social media use have important implications for future research and clinical practice. Firstly, establishing a program of research focused on elucidating these relationships is warranted. Rigorous prospective research utilizing objective and self–report indices of the three outcomes of interest should be conducted. It would be useful to design studies across strategic time periods, including periods of data bursts (e.g. ecological momentary assessment [EMA]), to evaluate state–level outcomes or in–the–moment processes. Increased understanding of the timeframes involved in these relationships and temporal precedence will help to identify modifiable intervention targets and inform the creation of resources.

Another important research direction would be the examination of profiles or establishing moderators of these interactive relationships to identify individuals presenting with higher risk for this constellation of poor outcomes. Another interesting direction would be characterizing different presentations in terms of the three outcomes. It may be, for example, that individuals with primarily restrictive patterns of disordered eating mainly use social media in ways that are related to self–presentation, but do not demonstrate difficulties in regulating their use. These individuals may experience poor sleep quality but perhaps adequate quantity. In contrast, individuals who present with dysregulated patterns of social media use, and perhaps loss of control eating, may potentially be more likely to experience insufficient sleep quantity and quality due to challenges with turning off screens and notifications/alerts. These different profiles would be interesting to explore.

In addition to these research directions, understanding the interplay between sleep disturbances, disordered eating, and problematic social media use, along with their shared psychological mechanisms and consequences, holds important clinical implications. First, should these interrelationships be confirmed, it would be useful to develop screening tools capable of assessing key symptoms across the three outcomes to help identify individuals who may struggle across areas. Second, clinicians should be aware of the potential co–presentation of these three disturbances and assess for them when presented with the others. Increasing clinician awareness and promoting ongoing education regarding these interrelated domains, including their manifestations, risk factors, and intervention strategies, could enhance therapeutic outcomes. Integrating targeted psychoeducation and flexible, evidence–informed interventions into existing treatment protocols may offer significant benefits for individuals suffering from sleep disorders, eating disorders, or problematic social media use. Furthermore, because these constructs often co–occur with broader psychopathological symptoms such as depression, anxiety, and social withdrawal, a more integrative approach can foster holistic and person–centered care. Developing transdiagnostic treatment frameworks that address these overlapping domains would allow clinicians to better meet the evolving challenges of contemporary mental health care, which increasingly requires sensitivity to digital behaviors, lifestyle factors, and the psychosocial demands of a rapidly changing world.

In terms of practices useful for having a public health impact, the confirmation of the relationships has implications for guidelines and policies that aim to target behaviors in all three domains. For example, currently, preventive efforts pertaining to social media engagement related to eating disorders have largely neglected areas such as the time of day when social media engagement should cease (not just duration). Some initial attempts have been made to intervene bidirectionally on sleep hygiene and the role of social media, particularly in relation to telepressure and fear of missing out (FoMO) (Rogers & Barber, 2019). However, these interventions remain preliminary and limited in their effects, indicating the need for further refinement and enhancement.

Limitations

This review has several limitations. First, the heterogeneity in definitions and measurement methods for core constructs (poor sleep, disordered eating, problematic social media use) complicates synthesis and reduces comparability. Second, reliance on published, peer–reviewed work introduces the possibility of publication and language bias. Third, as a narrative (rather than systematic or meta–analytic) review, it does not quantify effect sizes or formally assess risk of bias across studies. Finally, much of the existing literature is cross–sectional, restricting strong conclusions about causality and temporal precedence.

Conclusion

This mini–narrative review highlights the growing body of literature that supports a link, potentially bidirectional, among problematic social media use, disordered eating, and poor sleep. Each construct is independently associated with detrimental consequences on mental and physical health, and emerging evidence suggests that they may reinforce one another through underlying biological, psychological, and sociocultural mechanisms. Despite advancements in the field, the temporal sequencing and causal pathways among these variables are still poorly understood and need more empirical research.

Future research should prioritize longitudinal and ecologically sound study designs, in addition to efforts to identify high–risk profiles and modifiable intervention targets, given the intricate and multidimensional nature of these connections. A deeper understanding of these interrelationships may have critical implications for the development of integrated clinical assessments, transdiagnostic interventions, and public health strategies aimed at addressing the co–occurrence of these concerns in youth and emerging adults.

Author contributions

None.

Disclosure statement

Dr Rodgers is a member of the META Youth Advisory Board and provides consultation to META.

Funding

This research did not receive any specific funding. The activities of S.C. are supported by the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR) among the Projects of Relevant National Interest (PRIN) within the Next Generation EU funding (Bando 2022, NRRP) Code: P2022C7XFJ, CUP: C53D23009060001.

Data availability statement

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analyzed in this study.

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