Technology is known to play a pivotal role in your day to day life. You are perpetually surrounded by it right from your home to your work environment. All these cutting-edge technological devices may have made your life easier in more ways than one but they are adversely impacting your sleep and health. Many of you are in the habit of indulging in some sort of an electronic activity even late evening. As per the National Sleep Foundation’s survey that was conducted recently, almost 90 percent of the people in the United States are using some electronic or tech devices close to their bedtime.
Impact of Technology on Sleep
Experts believe that technology, despite all its advantages, is seriously hampering your sleep at night. Constant use of modern electronic devices would be adversely impacting your sleep quality at night. Technology may not allow restorative sleep at night hence; it is adversely impacting your work efficiency and productivity the next day.
Right from laptops and televisions to e-readers and smartphones, research has revealed that the use of electronic devices at night leads to drastically negative outcomes in terms of your sleep quality and overall sleep patterns. There are three major ways of how tech is destroying your sleep at night. Late-night use of tech devices makes it all the more difficult for you to fall asleep and have a sound sleep all through the night. Even if you fall asleep after a major struggle, you simply cannot stay asleep for long.
Tech Devices Are Suppressing Melatonin
The screens present on all electronic devices are used to emitting blue light that would be suppressing melatonin release. We know that melatonin is an effective sleep hormone. As per https://www.tuck.com, blue light seems to be all-pervasive in today’s advanced technology. It is present in tablets, smartphones, e-readers, televisions, fluorescent lighting, and even computers. Melatonin plays a pivotal role in the regulation of your circadian rhythms and also, your sleep & wake schedules. Lack of melatonin results in difficulty in falling asleep and difficulty in staying asleep!
Tech Devices Are Stimulating
Remember while you are using electronic devices, it could be physically and mentally stimulating. Your brain seems to be engaged actively while you are dealing with emotionally arousing content. Sometime your use of tech devices late night may culminate in the release of adrenaline.
Active Tech Use Could Wake You Up
Many of you are pretty much in the habit of constantly checking your phones for notifications. As your brain could be still registering environmental noises while you are asleep, every time a notification comes on your smartphone, you tend to wake up and your sleep is ruined for the night. You must remember that with a little determination and self-control you could get rid of the adverse impact of tech devices on your sleep and overall health.
Consider Using Night-Mode on Your Devices
Dimming your screens is the way to go at night. Most of the modern portable devices have a distinct ‘night mode’ option. You may consider setting your PC or smartphones to night mode. You could set your portable devices on a timer to ensure that the screens would automatically switch to the night mode every evening. You could consider using competent software for setting your Personal Computer or desktop to night mode. You simply need to consider downloading the software, installing, and completing all your settings.
Conclusion: Consider Going “Tech-Free” Just For Some Time before Bedtime
Stay away from tech or electronic devices at bedtime. This is quite difficult for people to achieve. However, experts are quite confident and insistent about opting for some sort of non-tech entertainment just for an hour before bedtime. If you could achieve this, your sleep consistency and quality would go up dramatically. Try reading a storybook or doing meditation or yoga. You need to be strict about setting a bedtime and sticking to it diligently.