London: Most people are responding to messages, looking at social media notifications, reading news or replying to office emails in middle of the night which has significantly disrupted their sleep patterns, a new study has warned.

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The study "Global Mobile Consumer Survey 2016" conducted by global consultancy firm Deloitte found that almost half of 18 to 24-year-olds check their phones in the middle of the night.

The study, involving 4,000 people in Britain, revealed that if users do not wake up to check their texts, they take time to scroll through their notifications right before bed.

Ten per cent of users also like to check their smartphone first thing in the morning, Fortune reported, quoting the study.

Less than a quarter of smartphone users are unplugging at least an hour before they go to sleep.

"Nearly 27 per cent of smartphones include a fingerprint reader, of which 76 per cent are used while 31 per cent of smartphone users make no traditional voice calls in a given week. This contrasts with a quarter in 2015 and just 4 per cent in 2012," the findings showed.

The majority of survey participants have downloaded 20 or fewer apps. By mid-2016, almost two-thirds of British adults had access to a tablet, but penetration growth had slowed down.