New research from a UK’ website has revealed that the average Briton loses 35 nights of sleep each year due to social networking, equating to just over 5 hours every week. The study, by www.MyVoucherCodes.co.uk, has revealed that Britons lose an average of 35 nights sleep every year through checking their social networking accounts before going to sleep.

The pol of 1,922 people, all of whom had a social networking was part of research into how much time Britons spend on social networking sites. More than 96 per cent of them said they visited the site ‘every day’.

Those polled were then asked if they ever lost sleep due to checking social networking sites from their bed, to which 67 per cent said ‘yes’. Almost all, 89 per cent, of these respondents said that they got ‘distracted’ by social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter before going to sleep at night, and therefore spent longer on the sites than they meant to.

The respondents were then asked to stipulate, on average, how many minutes they spent doing so per night, to which the answer was ’46 minutes’. Half said they accessed their social network site(s) every day from their bed before they went to sleep.

When taking all factors into account, the average social networker in Briton loses 279 hours worth of sleep each year which, as the recommended period of sleep per night is 8 hours, equates to almost 35 nights worth of sleep lost.