Whether I’m texting, listening to music or just scrolling through Facebook, I always seem to fall asleep with my phone near me. It’s the perfect spot for me to be able to hear my alarm, and it’s within arms reach in case of emergencies. But is the convenience of having your cell phone near you while you’re sleeping worth its’ harmful effects? ABC News reports that there are three main reasons why a person should not be sleeping with their cell phone in their bed.
First, your pillow could be set on fire. A teenager in Texas recently said that she was woken up to a burning smell, which was caused by her cell phone being underneath her pillow. The phone had melted, and it burned her sheets and mattress. Another reason to avoid sleeping with your phone is that you could keep yourself awake. For someone like me, who already has so much trouble falling asleep, this could be a huge problem. Cell phones reduce sleeping time because they emit blue light. This light hinders with the production of our sleep-inducing hormone melatonin, and interferes with our nightly slumber. The blue light releases wavelengths that are much like daylight, fooling our bodies to believe that it’s daytime. In order to fall asleep easily and without distraction, studies show that you must turn off any electronics two hours before you go to bed. Lastly, there is talk of possible health risks that come as a result of sleeping next to your phone. There’s no research yet that proves that cell phones can cause cancer, but cell phones do emit little amounts of electromagnetic radiation. This is the same radiation that X-rays and microwaves give off, that could lead to tumor growth if received in large quantities. Nevertheless, the World Health Organization alerts us that cell phone usage could have the possibility to cause cancer.
According to the Pew Internet Project, 44% of cell phone owners have slept with their phone next to their bed in order to make ensure that they didn’t miss any important calls or texts. Although we live in a world that’s now obsessed with cell phones and social media, it’s time to start putting our health first. Sleeping without a phone can avoid numerous problems.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/reasons-sleep-phone-bed/story?id=24839804#
My phone is honestly with me at all times, even when I’m sleeping. You said that sleeping with your phone could cause your pillow to go on fire. The chances of that happening are probably extremely low, was the teenager in Texas the only case you were able to find? If so, that could have been some sort of freak accident and largely due to chance. I am also wondering if you were able to find any people who actually got cancer from sleeping with their phones before. Were you able to find a study that proved that putting your phone away while sleeping made it easier to fall asleep? I think an effective study would be to have a group of people sleep with their phones and a group shut all electronics down two hours before sleeping(because you said this would be most effective) and see if this actually works. The results could be skewed because people may just have bad sleeping habits or sleep disorders regardless phone usage. Check out this interesting article I found to extend your information on sleeping with a phone, it states that nearly 3/4 of young people do. How do you think we can make the risks aware to our generation?
I think this was a very interesting post. Most people are so consumed with work and their social life that they constantly neglect their health. They do not understand how little things such as this can have such a great impact on your well being.
Great post. Its so interesting to see how cellular phones can affect your sleep. Never even thought about this concept before but it’s surprising and a bit confusing. If sleeping with a cell phone can cause a fire then the fire can occur whether you’re sleeping or not. It’s kind of scary to think about and Im definitely not leaving my phone on my bed anymore, whether I’m sleeping or not.
This was interesting because I personally sleep with my phone under me. I had no idea that phones could overheat and burn, so could my phone burn me? Cell phones emit radiofrequency which is also being questioned on whether or not that causes cancer and its effects on people. Even if it doesn’t cause cancer it makes you question if you should really be sleeping with something that’s potentially harmful. You can read more about it here
I really liked your post! I found out that it’s really bad to sleep next to your phone. I did a little experiment and usually I sleep with my phone on, and I always wake up in the middle of the night. One night I decided that I would switch off my phone to see what happened, and after that I started doing it on a regular basis. Since then, I have never woken up in the middle of the night.