We’ve all done it before: get ready for bed, climb in, but instead of closing our eyes and trying to fall asleep, we reach for our phones and play around with them for a while. I can admit I am one of the worst offenders when it comes to this. I will be absolutely exhausted and finally lay down at the end of a long day, but am suddenly able to be awake enough to stay on my phone and scroll through every social media site before finally turning it off and falling asleep. It may seem like checking up on a few things before going to sleep could be harmless, but being exposed to the lights and screen at night can disrupt our sleeping patterns and cause more problems than we probably think.

I checked out two different articles on this subject to see if using your phone before bed can cause any problems or is harmless. The first explains the problems that affect your sleep at night and why it is unhealthy. It says that after two hours, exposure to artificial light can suppress melatonin in the body, disrupting sleep. Melatonin in a hormone in the body that acts as a sort of timer, and sends signals throughout the body about nighttime and indicates that it is time to go to sleep. When we are looking at a phone, tablet, computer screen, etc, for about two hours or more, we are suppressing the melatonin in our bodies. Suppressing melatonin disrupts our circadian rhythms, which causes sleep disturbances. So, if you are typing up your homework or watching Netflix for over an hour before bed, take a break to do your nighttime routine, and then sit in bed staring at your phone, your body is responding in a negative way. The best way to avoid this would be to try to stay away from most electronics before bed; of course, late night homework is unavoidable sometimes, but every night can become a problem. When you go to bed, turn off your phone and actually go to bed instead of checking Twitter, Instagram, or whatever it may be. Checking in the daylight the next day will make all the difference for your sleep cycle.

The second article that I looked at talked about the effects of late night phone/tablet/computer usage on the next day, which also showed negative consequences. The article depicts a study that involved 82 managers answering several surveys over a period of two weeks about their phone usage and work performance. The results show that those who used their phones after 9 PM the previous night led to decreased work engagement during that day. Those who used their phones so late felt worse in the morning because of a worse night of sleep, which directly affected their work performance. A second part of this study used the same surveys and experiments but with questions about laptop, TV, and tablet usage. The results were similar (using these items late at night also caused a worse morning and work performance), but also showed that smartphone usage had a more prominent effect on the subjects’ behavior the next day.

Overall, using all electronics late at night has an entirely negative impact on sleep patterns, the next morning, and the work we will try to complete the next day. This is definitely something to keep in mind when going to sleep but deciding to check your phone first. I do this often and am definitely going to take these articles into consideration when I have classes, exams, and work due the next day.