Abstract
This poster presents recent research examining the association between internet use and sleep in later life. Sleep problems become more common with age and have been related to physical and mental decline. In younger populations, internet use has been linked to poorer sleep and shorter sleep duration. Some research has suggested that poor sleep may prompt more internet use. No research to date has examined the influence of internet use on sleep outcomes in later life. Among older adults, internet use has been largely associated with positive psychosocial outcomes. Internet use serves multiple functions in later life including interpersonal communication, information seeking, and leisure. Despite these positive effects, we hypothesize that greater internet use may negatively impact sleep duration and quality. We use data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a biennial survey of a nationally representative sample of adults over age 50 in the United States begun in 1992. HRS includes a question on “regular use of the internet” in the core survey. In 2012, HRS began asking respondents what time they went to bed and what time they woke up on the previous day. We examined the effects of internet use on time to bed, time of waking, sleep duration, and sleep quality in the 2016 wave. Results show a negative association between internet use and later bed times, earlier waking times, and sleep duration. Sleep quality was not related to internet use. Older adults’ internet use may keep them awake while paradoxically not impacting psychological well-being.