This protocol describes a randomized crossover trial designed to investigate how active versus passive evening technology use, compared with book reading, affects objective and subjective sleep outcomes in older adults aged 60-75 years.
Key Findings
Background
Most existing evidence on evening technology use and sleep focuses on younger populations and relies primarily on subjective measures.
The authors identify a gap in the literature specifically concerning older adults and objective sleep measurement.
Evening technology use has been associated with sleep disturbances, often attributed to blue light exposure and cognitive arousal.
The study notes 'limited understanding of how particular evening digital activities, especially active versus passive engagement, affect objective sleep in older adults.'
Methods
The trial is a randomized crossover design involving approximately 55 adults aged 60-75 years recruited from the ongoing Swedish National Study on Aging and Care - Blekinge.
Each participant undergoes 3 one-week intervention periods: active evening technology use, passive evening technology use, and a nondigital activity (book reading).
One-week washout periods are included between each intervention period.
The order of interventions is randomized across participants.
Participant recruitment and data collection began in fall 2025, continuing through summer 2026 or until target sample size is reached, with data collection scheduled to be completed by spring 2027.
Methods
Objective sleep will be measured using a home-based electroencephalography device (MUSE headband) alongside daily self-reports.
Primary outcomes are sleep onset latency and wake after sleep onset.
Secondary objective outcomes include total sleep time, sleep efficiency, and time spent in REM, deep, and light sleep.
Secondary subjective outcomes include subjective sleep quality, adherence, perception of the intervention, and comfort of using the EEG headband.
The use of a home-based EEG device is notable as it allows objective measurement in participants' natural sleep environments.
Methods
Linear mixed-effects models will be used to analyze crossover effects on sleep outcomes.
Models will include fixed effects for condition and period and a random participant intercept.
Within-subject statistical models will be used to evaluate differences in sleep outcomes across the three intervention conditions.
The analysis will also investigate associations between evening technology use and sleep quality.
Results
Planned results will include participant flow, baseline characteristics, adherence data, and comparative analyses of the three intervention conditions.
The study compares active evening technology use, passive evening technology use, and book reading as a nondigital control condition.
The crossover design enables within-subject comparisons, controlling for individual variability in sleep.
Findings are intended to 'inform simple, practical recommendations for technology use before bed in late life.'
What This Means
This paper describes the protocol for a study that has not yet been completed — it outlines how researchers plan to investigate whether using technology in the evening (such as scrolling through social media or watching videos) affects sleep quality in older adults aged 60 to 75. The study will compare three types of evening activities: active technology use (e.g., interactive screen use), passive technology use (e.g., watching videos), and reading a physical book. Each participant will try all three activities in different weeks, allowing researchers to compare how each one affects the same person's sleep. Sleep will be measured objectively using a brainwave-reading headband worn at home, as well as through daily self-reported sleep questionnaires.
This research suggests that there is currently a gap in scientific knowledge about how evening screen time specifically affects sleep in older adults, since most prior studies focused on younger people and used only self-reported measures of sleep quality. By using actual brainwave data collected at home, this study aims to get a more accurate picture of how different types of screen activities — interactive versus passive — influence sleep stages, how long it takes to fall asleep, and how often people wake up during the night.
This research suggests that the findings could eventually help inform practical guidance for older adults about which evening activities are more or less disruptive to sleep. As older adults increasingly use smartphones, tablets, and computers in their daily lives, understanding the potential effects on sleep becomes increasingly relevant for healthy aging. The study is ongoing, with data collection expected to be completed by spring 2027.
Ghazi S, Behrens A, Niklasson J, Sanmartin Berglund J, Anderberg P. (2026). The Effect of Evening Technology Use on Objective Sleep in Older Adults: Protocol for a Crossover Randomized Controlled Trial.. JMIR research protocols. https://doi.org/10.2196/84512