Every night before I go to sleep I am always using my phone, even when I say I want to go to bed at a decent time, I always seem to stay up later than I intended too. I was thinking about this and decided to look into whether it is bad for you? And if it is bad for me, in what ways is it bad?
Photoreceptors in the retina sense light and dark, which then signals our brain about what is happening around us and aligning our sleep patterns. This allows us to be awake and ready in the morning and to be able to fall asleep at night. This is natural when the light we are exposed to is from the sun, as it is almost the same every single day (Sleep Foundation). But when we are exposed to the light of an electronic device, what happens then?
Studies have shown that even small electronic devices will give off enough light to promote wakefulness. Adults and even children are susceptible to this and we might have to be careful. This light exposure at night can negatively impact sleep time, sleep quality, and daytime alertness. Children need this valuable sleep time because, “Sleep is essential for growth, learning, mood, creativity, and weight control” (Sleep Foundation).
These sleep patterns are affected by our use of electronics and a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that this could even affect our long-term health. Researchers then set out to find out what changes in the body cause these disruptions that are caused by the use of electronic gadgets (Wash Post).
A study was conducted for two weeks, one group of participants were asked to read on an iPad for four hours before bed five nights a week, while the others were asked to do the same but with printed books in dim light. Researches found that the people that were using the iPads had decreases levels of melatonin, which increases in the evening and helps make a person feel tired. These people also took longer to fall asleep and reported being sleepier as well as less alert the following morning (Wash Post).
One problem with this study is that the sample size is just too small, so we have to be careful about generalizing. Another problem is that only one type of device was tested, the iPad, and maybe this is the only device that causes a decrease in melatonin.
Sleep loss is becoming more and more of an issue with more and more electronic usage. This can begin to cause serious problems, for example, suppression of levels of melatonin has been linked to an increased risk of getting certain types of cancer. Adding to this, lack of sleep has been associated with obesity and diabetes (NICABM).
Although these studies say that there is a link between these things, there are always third variables that can affect the outcome of these findings. These cancers, obesity, and diabetes can also be linked to numerous other different factors so pin-pointing it on the using electronic devices cannot be entirely correct. There are many different lifestyles that people choose that can affect these as well. So just because these results show that increased electronic usage is connected with these health problems, they are not necessarily because correlation does not equal causation.
So similar to the study with the rats and their melatonin levels and activity in the hippocampus, we cannot say with certainty that staying up late using electronic devices causes these health problems. So maybe using these electronics makes us stay up later resulting in a lack of sleep and that is the cause of the health issues, more research would have to be done to figure this out!
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Here is the link again, it did not seem to work.
I took a look at this article and it brought up some key points. I never really thought of plugging in my phone in another room, partly because as a freshman living in a dorm it is not possible. This article agrees with the problem, and even gives suggestions on how to move your phone away from your bed while you sleep even if you have different excuses. For example, it says that even if you use your phone as an alarm clock, you can still move it to another surface that is not directly next to your bed so that you are not tempted to use it during the night.
I’ve always heard that electronics in the bedroom is a very bad when it comes to going to bed at night. It has to do with the LD light and triggers your brain that decreases the ability to fall asleep. This article http://www.kgw.com/story/news/investigations/2014/04/14/doctor-cell-phones-hurt-sleep-quality/12584984/ explains this issue. They explain how when you’re typing and scrolling through your phone you’re not in a preparing yourself for sleep routine. They recommend plugging your phone in any other room for the night in order to prevent distraction from your sleep.
I also use my phone after I get on my bed. sometimes I was already very tired and I just want to check texts or email on my phone. When I turn on my phone for a while, I didn’t feel as tired as before and I will end out using half an hour more than I was intended to use. I think phone is really keeping me from sleeping on time. Such a great topic and post, thank you for sharing.