A lot of people (including me) like to watch television to help them fall asleep at night. What they don’t realize is that whether it’s a computer, video game, or television, these diversions can keep us from both falling asleep and sleeping well. The most simple but important reason technology affects our sleep is cognitive stimulation. According to Mark Rosekind, former director of the Fatigue Countermeasures Program at the NASA Ames Research Center and president and chief scientist at the scientific consulting firm Alertness Solutions, “As your brain revs up, its electrical activity increases and neurons start to race — the exact opposite of what should be happening before sleep.”

Another reason that electronics prevent us from getting a good night’s sleep is because “The physical act of responding to a video game or even an email makes your body tense. As you get stressed, your body can go into a “fight or flight” response, and as a result, cortisol, a stress hormone produced by the adrenal gland, is released, creating a situation hardly conducive to sleep”(Rosekind). The bright glow from an electronic like a computer screen or a TV can also prevent sleep. The light from these devices pass through the retina into a part of the hypothalamus (the area of the brain that controls several sleep activities) and delay the release of the sleep-inducing hormone, melatonin. If you consistently use electronics before sleep, you will begin to stay up later and readjust your internal clock. This is the cause of “Delayed sleep phase syndrome.” This means that your body cannot physically fall asleep until that new time. Allison G. Harvey, a sleep specialist and professor of psychology at the University of California at Berkeley said, “Falling asleep isn’t like flicking a switch. We don’t put our heads on the pillow and fall off to sleep. We take time to wind down at night. If we’ve got bright light conditions, we’re not giving ourselves a chance to get off to sleep and stay asleep.”

The National Sleep Foundation’s annual Sleep in America poll, surveyed 1,508 people between the ages of 13 and 64. The survey showed that a majority of Americans aren’t getting enough sleep. 63 percent said their needs aren’t being met during the week and ninety-five percent of those surveyed said they’d used an electronic device such as a television, computer, video game or cell phone  within the hour before bed.

Turning off or not using electronics before bed can really make a huge difference in your sleep patterns. Next time you want to watch one last TV show before bed, or check social media one last time, think about the affects that it will have.

Works Cited

http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/features/power-down-better-sleep

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/sleep/articles/2011/03/07/using-electronics-before-bed-may-hamper-sleep

http://www.kolotv.com/home/headlines/Using-Electronics-Before-Bed-How-it-Can-Have-a-Negative-Effect-on-Your-Sleep-263455691.html