Switch off and sleep well!

Wednesday 18th July 2012

Electronic devices play a part in most of our lives these days, whether it’s with mobile phones and TVs or some of the more recent items such as iPads or increasingly light and compact laptops. These devices provide endless entertainment, communication and education, and they’re used by many of us at work and home in equal measure. Their sheer diversity means that there’s rarely a point in the day where at least one of these gadgets isn’t potentially in use. From the second we open our eyes in the morning to the moment our heads hit the pillow, there’s probably an electronic device of some description at arm’s reach.

These electronic gadgets, for all the benefits that they bring, can be extremely damaging to our sleep quality if they’re used at the wrong times.

Stimulating Light

The type of light emitted by computer and smartphone screens actually replicates the ‘blue’ light that we experience in nature, and this causes a physical reaction in the body. Melatonin, the hormone that regulates sleep, is quickly suppressed when our eyes are exposed to blue light, and energy-providing hormones are generated in response.

So, watching an hour or so of TV or checking through your Twitter feed on your phone in bed is effectively telling your body that it’s daytime and you need to stay awake. If you let this happen night after night then the issue could rapidly deteriorate into a sleep disorder. Interfering with the natural circadian rhythm – the (approximately) twenty-four cycle of sleep/wake activity – means that you’ll feel tired when you should be alert, and wide awake when you should be winding down. Twitter will still be there in the morning – is it really worth risking your health and wellbeing to stay on top of the celebrity gossip?

Other types of electronic light can be disruptive to sleep in different ways. Although your TV or stereo may be switched off, it’s more than likely to have a stand-by light that keeps glowing. While this is easy to miss during the daylight hours it can become a veritable torch in an otherwise dark room, making it a distracting, unnecessary barrier to sleep.

Engaging the mind

While its easy to sit in front of a TV or idly scroll around a smartphone app without feeling particularly engaged, your brain actually is working away processing images, sounds and information. The hour or two before bed should be spent relaxing and freeing the mind of consuming thoughts, not being stimulated with rapid-fire entertainment that makes it difficult to mentally settle down.

Wind down

It’s not a reasonable suggestion to cut electronics out of your life altogether to improve your sleep, nor is it necessary. Simply introducing a time in the evening when you agree to switch off is enough to get into a routine of winding down, without the stimulating effects of electronics interfering with your mind and body. By allowing yourself a gadget-free period, not just in the bedroom but anywhere in the house in the hour or two before you go to bed, you’re making a conscious decision to allow your body to experience the evening naturally, and you’ll find that when it’s bedtime, you’re ready to go to sleep.
 

Tags: sleep gadgets light blue smartphones

Category: Ergo Flex News

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