Les troubles du sommeil dans l'addiction à Internet

The relationship between sleep disorders and Internet addiction has been poorly studied. Given the importance of these disorders in our clinical practice, we felt it appropriate to make a synthesis of available data and to establish causality or accountability between Internet addiction and the onset of sleep disorders. A literature review was then performed. We selected scientific articles in English and French, published between 1974 and 2010 by consulting the databases Medline, Embase, PsycINFO and Google Scholar. The words used alone or in combination are as follows: addiction, dependence, Internet, behavioral adddiction, sleep. A high prevalence of sleep disorders is found, with dysomnia, chronic sleep deprivation and phase delay. Physiopathological mechanisms are numerous and entangled: psychological excitement, the effect of light on melatonin production, association with other addictions and psychiatric disorders. While therapeutic approach necessarily includes considering addiction, very few articles address this question.