If you or your family are having problems falling asleep at night — that laptop or smartphone you can’t live without may be to blame.
The National Sleep Foundation says 95 percent of Americans use some kind of electronic device — TV, a computer, smartphone, or tablet — within an hour of bedtime, and that can be a problem.
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“Numerous studies have shown that having a television in the bedroom is associated with poor and insufficient sleep,” said Dr. Robert Rosenberg, a Prescott Valley, Arizona-based sleep medicine specialist and author of “Sleep Soundly Every Night, Feel Fantastic Every Day.”
“Keep electronics, including computers, tablets, and smartphones, out of your bedroom. These devices emit blue light, which tricks our brains into thinking it’s daytime,” he said.
These devices emit blue light, which tricks our brains into thinking it’s daytime.
While any kind of light can suppress melatonin levels, a hormone that controls brain’s natural sleep-wake cycles, blue light does so more powerfully.
A 2014 study conducted by researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, and published in the Proceedings of the Natural Academy of Science, found that study participants who read on an iPad for four hours each night, for five consecutive nights, displayed reduced levels of melatonin, which typically increases in the evening and helps induce sleepiness. Study participants also took longer to fall asleep than their peers who read printed books, and they spent less time in restorative rapid-eye movement (REM) sleep.
Terry Cralle, a Fairfax, Virginia-based registered nurse and clinical sleep educator, said when many people have problems falling asleep, they turn on the television or reach for their smartphone, a move that can actually be counterproductive.
Cralle co-authored of the book “Sleeping Your Way to the Top: How to Get the Sleep You Need to Succeed,” with sleep psychologist W. David Brown.
“Rather than turning to technology as a way of inducing sleep, it’s better to read a printed book, or listen to soothing music before bed,” Cralle told LifeZette. “It’s important to banish phones, computers and tablets from your bedroom since they can act like stimulants and keep you awake.”
In addition to feeling sleepy the next day, Cralle said chronic sleep deprivation can lead to serious health issues, including heart disease, obesity, stroke and dementia.
“Most of us require seven to nine hours of sleep a night, and failing to get that can lead to both short-term problems such as impairing alertness and concentration, as well as long-term health problems,” Cralle said.
Heather Larson of Tacoma, Washington, a writer and grandmother of two, found that she sleeps much better if she reads a printed book before bedtime.
“I’ve always read right before bed and found that relaxes me,” she told LifeZette. “At least it did until a couple of years ago, around the same time I started reading books on my tablet. Then it often took an hour or more before I could fall asleep. My mind raced with random thoughts, and I’d also wake up periodically throughout the night. “
After learning that reading books on electronic devices reduced the body’s production of melatonin, Larson went back to printed books and is once again getting quality sleep every night.
Kids and Teens Especially Hit Hard
Parents know how much teens rely on technology, but spending too much time on electronic devices can also take a toll on their sleep, according to another study.
The study, published Feb. 2 on the online journal BMJ Open, found that four hours or more of daytime screen time led to a 49 percent chance of it taking longer than 60 minutes to fall asleep. In addition, more than two hours of screen time after school was linked to taking longer to fall asleep and shorter overall length of staying asleep.
“School-aged kids need 10-11 hours of sleep each night, while teens typically need 8.5 to 9.5 hours of sleep each night,” Cralle said. “A lot of issues that typical teens face can be linked back to sleep deprivation.”
To make sure your child gets a good night’s sleep, Cralle recommends keeping televisions, computers and smartphones out of your child’s bedroom, and giving everyone in your family an electronic curfew.
“Have a bedtime routine where 30 to 60 minutes before bedtime you take a warm bath, or read a book to your child,” Cralle said. “Another simple yet effective way to improve the quality of your sleep is exercise, and it doesn’t have to be extensive. A 10-minute walk with your family after dinner will improve the likelihood of getting a good night’s sleep.”
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