Many college students can relate to using their phones right before they fall asleep. Whether its laying in bed texting friends, or going on their favorite social media apps on their smart phones, phone use before falling asleep is an everyday staple for young adults in todays world. I always notice that I am tired at night, until I check my phone before I sleep, and suddenly I am up for hours before even closing my eyes. So does using our phones before we fall asleep keep us awake for longer? Should we not be using our phones if we want a good night of sleep?
Despite keeping us awake due to addicting apps, and the appeal of texting friends, using you phone at night is actually believed to have a negative physical impact on your sleeping patterns. According to Business Insider, “exposure to the artificial blue light that emanates from our smartphone screens can damage your sleep cycle and your health.” The blue light changes the production of melatonin in the body, and essentially tricks your mind into thinking that it is morning instead of night. This understandably keeps you awake for longer, when you should be sleeping.
As Huffington Post stated, a study was done in which 12 participants used an iPad for 4 hours before trying to sleep, for 5 days straight. The same participants then read a printed book for 4 hours before trying to sleep, for the next 5 days. The researchers found that the, “iPad readers took longer to fall asleep, felt less sleepy at night and had shorter REM sleep compared to the book readers”. When using the iPads the participants were overall more alert at night, keeping them awake and making them tired the next day. Not getting sleep can overall effect the mood and energy level of the person, and it is necessary for the body to properly function on a daily basis.
Although phones indeed physically keep you awake, it doesn’t mean that our generation will stop using our phones before we sleep. Our phones are filled with apps that contain constant streams of information that entertain us at any moment. In fact, many of us look forward to checking our phones before we fall asleep, and just relaxing by investing ourselves into the world of social media, games on our phones, or texting our friends.
So should we stop doing something that we enjoy? The answer will always be different for each individual. The effects are clearly negative for our sleeping patterns, but some may not be bothered by this concept at all. For me, I definitely might consider spending less time on my phone before bed. It will be a hard adjustment, but it will be beneficial in the end.
I really enjoyed reading your blog post as it made me ponder how I could probably have a better nights sleep if I just shut down my electronics. I find myself losing track of time as I flip from twitter to instagram to Facebook to snapchat. Everyone always told me that using electronics before bed will impact your sleeping patterns but I wasn’t aware that the reason behind that is due to the blue light from the phone screens. Overall, your blog post was really relatable, clarifying, and interesting!
I agree with a lot of the comments and enjoyed reading your post. I think that being on our electronic devices, phones and computers, is a detriment to our sleep routines. I have found that your blog post is something I’ve experienced first hand and I am strongly against being on my laptop for hours before bed. Not to mention the new studies about radiation from phones and etc by putting them next to us while we sleep! Great post, Rachael!
I think people should not use cell phones at night, because a strong light in the dark will hurt people eyes badly. And what’s more, people like to charge phone at night near them, and this is also a bad habit because the radiation is high when the phone is charging, and the radiation would do lots of damages to human’s brain
I think people should not use cell phones at night, because a strong light in the dark will hurt people eyes badly. And what’s more, people like to charge phone at night near them, and this is also a bad habit because the radiation is high when the phone is charging, and the radiation would do lots of damages to human’s brain
I think people should not use cell phones at night, because a strong light in the dark will hurt people eyes badly. And what’s more, people like to charge phone at night near them, and this is also a bad habit because the radiation is high when the phone is charging, and the radiation would do lots of damages to human’s brain
I think people should not use cell phones at night, because a strong light in the dark will hurt people eyes badly. And what’s more, people like to charge phone at night near them, and this is also a bad habit because the radiation is high when the phone is charging, and the radiation would do lots of damages to human’s brain
Great research! I always find myself staying up late on my phone, especially on tumblr or pintrest. I find myself on these apps one second and dead asleep the next. However, the next morning, I always feel like I could’ve had a better nights sleep if I wasn’t on those apps.
I think people should not use cell phones at night, because a strong light in the dark will hurt people eyes badly. And what’s more, people like to charge phone at night near them, and this is also a bad habit because the radiation is high when the phone is charging, and the radiation would do lots of damages to human’s brain