Nature and Science of Sleep

Sleep Health Challenges and Interventions across the Lifespan in the Digital Age

As digital devices become more and more common in daily life, sleep health for people of all ages has shown distinct age-specific sleep patterns. Adolescents often go to bed and wake up later because they use social media at night; working adults feel overstimulated before sleep due to long hours of screen time at work; and older adults have more broken sleep because blue light from digital devices affects them. This change has made research on how digital tools influence sleep—such as disrupting the body’s internal clock or overstimulating the brain—and ways to address these issues a key focus of interdisciplinary research. While we already know that too much digital use changes sleep patterns and have tried simple solutions like limiting screen time, there is still much we don’t understand. Future research needs to figure out how digital use affects different age groups biologically and develop personalized, easy-to-use ways to improve sleep health in the digital era.

Sleep health is of utmost importance for those of all ages, and unfortunately, digital technology has led to a notable increase in sleep issues across among people of different ages worldwide. Studies show that adolescents not getting enough sleep regularly can hinder the development of the brain’s decision-making areas and make young people more prone to mood disorders. For working adults, using digital devices excessively is closely linked to a much higher chance of chronic insomnia, which can lead to workplace accidents and long-term health conditions like heart disease. In older adults, exposure to blue light from digital devices is associated with more difficulty staying asleep, which worsens age-related declines in immune function and the ability to live independently. Given the widespread impact of unaddressed digital-related sleep problems across all age groups, this Article Collection is meant to conduct more in-depth research and in turn, develop targeted solutions to reduce the long-term health and social costs.

We welcome submissions covering (but not limited to) the following topics:

• how digital use affects sleep patterns in different age groups and what these sleep problems look like in daily life
• the biological and psychological reasons behind digital-related sleep issues (such as sleep disruption or insomnia) across all age groups
• how sleep problems caused by digital use interact with people’s emotional and social well-being in adolescents, adults, and older adults
• effective, age-specific ways to improve sleep health affected by digital use
• broad health impacts of digital-related sleep issues on populations and priorities for future research

This Article Collection accepts the following article types: original research, basic science and technology, clinical and epidemiological studies, reviews and evaluations, guidelines, expert opinion and commentary.

Keywords:

Screen time and sleep; Circadian disruption; Blue light exposure; Age-specific interventions; Digital device-induced sleep dysfunction

All manuscripts submitted to this Article Collection will undergo desk assessment and peer review if they can pass the desk assessments as part of our standard editorial process; the Guest Advisors for this Collection will not be handling the manuscripts (unless they are an Editorial Board member).

The deadline for submitting manuscripts is 30 April 2027.

Please contact Thalia Geiger at Thalia.Geiger@taylorandfrancis.com with any queries and discount codes regarding this Article Collection.

Meet the Guest Advisors

Dr. Guohua Zhang

Dr. Zhang is a professor of psychology at Wenzhou Medical University. His core expertise lies in using longitudinal study designs to unravel the developmental mechanisms underlying adolescent problematic internet use and its associations with mental health outcomes. He has led two national-level research projects and published peer-reviewed articles in top-tier journals.

Dr. Ke Zhao

Dr. Zhao is an Associate Professor and Deputy Director of the Department of Psychiatry at Wenzhou Medical University and currently serves as the Academic Vice President of the Affiliated Kangning Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University. She holds a Ph.D. in Psychiatry and Mental Health from West China School of Medicine, Sichuan University. Her research focuses on early clinical intervention for mental disorders, particularly mood disorders, non-suicidal self-injury in children and adolescents, and substance dependence. Dr. Zhao has led and participated in multiple national and provincial‑level research projects, and has published high‑quality academic papers on neuroimaging, depression, sleep medicine, and adolescent mental health.

Dr. Liao Zhang

Dr. Zhang is an assistant professor at the School of Mental Health, Wenzhou Medical University, and serves as the Research Director of the Sleep Medicine Center at Wenzhou Kangning Hospital. He is also a research fellow in Medicine at Harvard Medical School. His expertise spans adult and geriatric sleep medicine, digital health technology for sleep disorders, and cognitive-behavioral interventions for sleep disorders across different age and racial groups. He has led provincial and municipal-level research projects on AI-driven sleep health monitoring and intervention, and holds 5 patents related to sleep health monitoring and digital therapy.

Dr. Sherry Xue Yang

Dr. Sherry Xue Yang obtained her Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and was trained at University of Oxford. She has been appointed as Assistant Professor in JC School of Public Health and Primary Care since 2023. She was trained in areas of health psychology, behavioral medicine, social work, counseling, and social psychology.