Many of us at least once in our lives are putting our phones to bed and spend the last minutes before sleep reading messages, news or following the latest trends on social networks. Can you imagine this – it seems quite innocent but using one’s cellphone before going to bed results in delivering dramatically poor quality of sleep and in general health.
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In the very digital world that people live today, bedtime phone use is a very common part of their lives. Most of them, especially the younger generation, tend to use their phones as their last thing before they get into bed. Resulting from this habit, it is common for people to spend an hour online or more before turning out the lights. In reality, however, this habit might be interfering with your bedtime more than you realize.
Effects of Blue Light on Sleep
A large portion of the reason why cellphone use before bed is disrupting sleep patterns is due to blue light. The type of light produced by phone screens acts just like daylight and tricks your brain into thinking it is still daytime. This disrupts a person’s regular sleep cycle, thereby not making it easy to have restful sleep.
Blue Light Interaction with Melatonin
Blue light directly affects the hormone that manages your sleep. Melatonin’s production diminishes when exposed to the blue light from your phone, and you are therefore not easily drowsy. Thus, employing your phone at bedtime acts like an injunction to your brain: “Do not sleep!” That is why most people wake up in bed without sleeping even after putting away their phones.
It can even distort the entire sleep pattern. Blue light after midnight causes you to have what is referred to as fragmented sleep, or you wake up in the middle of the night. This further disrupts the cycle and leaves you groggy in the morning, restless. This then may progress to other serious sleep disorders.
Mental Stimulation from Mobiles
It not only has physical results but also keeps the mind going when it needs to wind down. Scrolling through social media, sending or responding to messages, or even just watching videos all require mental activity. This stimulation may make it challenging to relax and sleep.
You would also find yourself, after being in this social media interface, watching fun videos, or even playing a game. Your brain tends to become more alert, its increasing focus in line with heartbeats as you consider more information. Hence, you find it pretty tough to sleep faster because your mind needs some time to relax before it goes into deep rest.
Apart from enhancing alertness, using a bed phone also triggers stress and anxiety. Reading news updates, viewing work emails, or seeing high-energy content makes people sensitive to what is happening and thus leads to anxious thoughts. The brain cannot easily relax when individuals are anxious or stressed. This contributes to an endless cycle of sleeping poorly with heightened levels of stress and anxiety.
Physical effect of using a phone before sleep:
Using your phone at night not only interferes with the mental and hormonal functions but has a more acute physical impact. The added screen time causes digital eyestrain resulting in headaches, blurry vision, and eye discomfort. Bright screens can cause eye strain for long periods, thus resulting in its potential to cause fatigue and even minor eye problems. These physical effects come together with bad sleep to affect a person’s health and energy levels.
Tips to Diminish Phone Use Before Bed
If scrolling to bed at night becomes a habit, there are several practical measures that can be taken to reduce this:
- Establish a Screen-Free Time to Bed: Institute a specific time each night to stop using the screens, preferably in 30-60 minutes before bedtime.
- Use Night Mode: Most phones carry the night mode or blue light filter that limits the emission of blue light from the screen. This can help minimize some effects if you have to use your phone late.
- Have a Bedtime Routine: Instead of watching television switch such screen time with the quiet pre-sleep activity such as reading a book, meditation, or light exercising.
- Keep Your Phone Away from Bed: This could means placing the phone on the other end of the room or in another room just to make it out of reach.
- Switch to an analog: Try and use an alarm clock to wake you up instead of using your phone that way you can simply get rid of the device at bedside.
These habits help you slowly break the cycle of pre-sleep phone use and improve your overall sleep quality.
