A week-long break from social media may help ease depression, anxiety and insomnia among young adults, according to new research that adds to growing concerns about the mental health impact of excessive screen time.

The study, published in JAMA Network Open, tracked 373 participants aged between 18 and 24 as they spent two weeks actively using Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and X. Researchers monitored their usage patterns, then asked them to report their mental wellbeing before, during and after the test period.

After the two-week monitoring phase, almost 80 per cent of participants agreed to take a voluntary one-week detox from social media. Among those who did so, one in four reported reduced symptoms of depression. Sixteen per cent said their anxiety symptoms had eased, while 15 per cent noted improvements in insomnia. The detox appeared most beneficial for those who entered the study with moderate or high levels of depression, anxiety or sleep difficulties.

The researchers noted that the break did not reduce loneliness, a finding they attributed to the sudden loss of regular interactions, such as comments, messages and likes, that young people typically receive on these platforms.

Josep Maria Suelves, a researcher at the Open University of Catalonia, said the findings highlight a wider issue. While social media can support communication and community, he said “frequent and prolonged use of these tools can interfere with healthy behaviours,” including sleep, exercise and meaningful social contact. This, he noted, raises risks linked to sedentary habits, insufficient rest and exposure to negative social pressures that can worsen depression or addiction.

Although participants were asked to restrict their screen time, they did not eliminate it completely. They still spent around 30 minutes per day on their phones during the detox, compared to nearly two hours beforehand. Instagram and Snapchat were the platforms most likely to draw users back during the break, while Facebook, TikTok and X saw fewer logins.

The authors said the results are promising but stressed the need for broader studies to identify how long a social media detox should last to deliver consistent mental health benefits. They also said the study’s demographics — mostly women, university students and highly educated participants — limit how widely the findings can be applied.

José Perales, a psychology professor at the University of Granada, said the voluntary nature of the detox phase was another limitation. Allowing participants to choose whether or not to take a break could skew results, he said, since those who opted in may have been more motivated or more aware of their symptoms.

Perales cautioned that the study’s relevance is “very modest” and may join “the long list of inconclusive and easily overinterpreted studies” in the debate over social media’s impact on young people’s wellbeing.

Genes associated with impulsive decision-making may also increase the risk of mental health disorders, obesity and several chronic conditions, according to a major new study that examines how deeply impulsivity is rooted in human biology.

The research, published in Molecular Psychiatry, suggests that tendencies such as seeking quick rewards are not only inherited but tied to a broad set of physical and psychological health outcomes over a person’s lifetime. The findings come from one of the largest genetic analyses of impulsivity to date.

“Impulsive decision-making is something we all experience, but its biological roots have been surprisingly difficult to pin down,” said Sandra Sanchez-Roige, an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of California San Diego and one of the study’s authors.

The team analysed genome-wide data from nearly 135,000 individuals who participated in 23andMe’s genetic testing programme. They focused on a behaviour known as delay discounting — the preference for smaller, immediate rewards over larger, future ones. Scientists have long linked this trait to impulsivity, but the scale of the dataset allowed researchers to identify 73 psychiatric, cognitive and physical health traits connected to it.

Those traits include indicators of substance use, depression, executive function, chronic pain, cardiovascular health, obesity, immune system complications and insomnia. The study reports that the connections involve “both overlapping and trait-specific biological processes,” with several genes linked to dopamine activity, brain structure and metabolic pathways that shape neural development.

To assess how these genetic patterns translate into long-term health impacts, the researchers built genetic risk scores for impulsive behaviour and studied medical records from more than 66,000 people. They found associations with 212 medical conditions, including type 2 diabetes, chronic pain and heart disease.

Sanchez-Roige said the results show that delay discounting is “measurable, highly heritable and relevant to many aspects of health,” spanning brain development, cognition and physical wellbeing.

The study raises new questions about the degree to which the identified genes directly contribute to health conditions or whether their influence is shaped by environmental factors. The authors said future research should examine whether addressing social or educational factors linked to impulsivity could reduce associated health risks.

“By continuing to investigate this fundamental decision-making process, we may uncover new ways to prevent or treat a wide range of conditions,” Sanchez-Roige said.