Thanh Duong: Your smartphone may be hurting your sleep
Thanh Duong
Blog 2
Title: Your Smartphone May Be Hurting Your Sleep
Link: http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/09/health/smartphones-harm-sleep/index.html
This article explains that using your smartphone or any technological devices near bedtime is associated with sleep quality. Also, it explains how we are addicted to technology and how sleep is important and how much we are getting. Dr. Marcus conducted a research study where he asked participants on their smartphone usage at the time during bed time, found that they took longer to fall sleep and have the worst sleep quality during the night. Next, it talks about technology addiction, it is associated that prolong usage of smartphones have an increase impact of sleep deprivation. When conducting this experiment to find that smartphone usage is associated with sleep deprivation and poor sleep quality, they found that total use of smartphones is about 38 hrs over a month and with longer usage were more likely to have poorer sleep quality and sleep. However, with smartphone usage is less, then there is some sleep difficulties. The conclusion of this study conducted by Dr. Marcus explains that smartphones and other screen devices emitted a blue light that suppress the body production of melatonin which induces tiredness and contributes to sleep-wake cycles. Lastly, the importance of sleep as a biological need and suggest that poor sleep can lead to many health problems like obesity, diabetes, depression, and cardiovascular disease. It also explains that teens and children who use smartphones and other screen devices is associated with losing sleep time that lead to poorer sleep quality. Concluding by Dr. Marcus suggests that people who are trouble sleepers should avoid looking at screens for half hour before going to bed that could help them produce melatonin and induce sleep with great sleep quality, meaning it is worth giving it a try.
This article has research about the problem of smartphones maybe hurting out sleep and gives a generalization on the effects and numbers on the impact of sleep. We all use smartphones everyday for social media, calling, texting, and it's convenient on the go for other needs. I believe that all of us are addicted to our smartphones to some degree and everyday I would look around and we would keep are eyes glue to the screens. Which means that it is integrated into our lives and its hard to stop because the generation we live in now. Also, I relate to this article because I sometime would use my smartphone to play games and look at social media and I have found that it is hard to fall asleep, but I think the habit is already integrated into my daily routine and it is hard to kick the habit. However, some may not get use to this habit or is already. There are plenty of research that blue light that is emitted from television screens, smartphones, and tablets does contribute in decreasing the production of melatonin and going to sleep is hard, so there is an association between that. This topic relates to our class is during the first part of the semester where were learning about the brain and we had to know the neurotransmitters in a table and understand how they affect us in our bodies and it lead to learn other neurotransmitters on the exam. We all use smartphones every single day and while we can't kick the habit of using less, it will be hard because it is our generation who are already integrated on using these technology to be productive in the classroom and outside real world whether it is during the day or night.
I really enjoyed reading this post and think that it is incredibly relevant to everyone. There has been an increase in the use of and addiction to technology, especially smartphones. Personally I have the habit of laying in bed, doing various things on my phone before bed. I've never really paid attention as to whether or not this affects my sleep, but am definitely going to start. I found the information about the blue light to be very interesting and plan to look into more research about that. This article is also relevant to the content we have learned in class; the pineal gland secretes melatonin, which is the hormone that induces sleep.
ReplyDeleteYour post struck my interest so I decided to read a little deeper into the role light plays in releasing melatonin and how that influences insomnia. As you mentioned, melatonin is suppressed by light; our class textbook mentions an interesting finding about totally blind individuals with and without insomnia. Those with insomnia do not show decreased melatonin when exposed to light, but those without insomnia do show decreased melatonin when exposed to light (chapter 15, p. 485).
ReplyDeleteThis entry triggered past learning experiences in another class having to do with sleep. Along with not using your phone before bed I have also learned for the same reasons you should not study in bed. Bed is a place which conditions your body for sleep and things such as studying and using your phone can inhibit that. Learning about the light of the screen and what it triggers within the body was something new to me. The comments above definitely helped me better understand the concept and the insomnia point is also interesting to me. Personally, I believe most people in our generation can relate to using their phones before bed and questioning why we cannot fall asleep.
ReplyDeleteCollege has played a huge role in the altering of my sleep. This article is very interesting because although I know that technology can negatively impact sleep and health, seeing it slaps me in the face. I tend to go to sleep after using my laptop or my Ipad and I can definitely connect with the idea of sleep deprivation and feeling extremely tired throughout the week. From this experience I will definitely look at my habits and rearrange what I do before I go to bed. The one thing that I can connect to the course is the retina. I can just imagine how the retina is affected by the intense light we place on our eyes late at night, especially when we are exhausted. I wonder how the retina is affected and will definitely look into it?
ReplyDeleteI found that article interesting because of it's mention of blue light. I have heard before that blue light has a negative impact on sleep. I have seen commericals advertising orange tinted sunglasses that are supposed to block out the blue light. There is even a "sleep" mode on the iPhone that reduces the blue light given off so that you aren't kept awake from it. I would be very interested in following the research on the topic.
ReplyDeleteThis article is very interesting. Our habits have a huge impact not only on ourselves but also on the people around us. I read an article that explains how parents' sleep have an impact on their children's sleep ( http://neurosciencenews.com/parent-confidence-child-sleep-5604/ ). This study suggests that educating parents about their own sleep health could help their children to get enough sleep. Using smartphones before bed is not healthy for your eyes and nor for your quality of sleep therefore we should watch what we are doing before bed to get a better sleep and to help educate others to get a better sleep.
ReplyDeleteThis article was a great choice for a post because it's so relevant to our generation. I personally have seen a difference in my sleep when I use my phone closer to bedtime. However, this doesn't personally apply to my laptop. As I get closer to going to bed I tend to gradually turn down the brightness of my phone and laptop screen so that may be helping with the negative impacts of use close to bedtime. I've also noticed when I don't do this I tend to have more trouble getting to bed. iPhones now have the night shift option that changes the colors emitted by our phones. It'd be interesting to see if that does in fact help reduce the problems you mentioned as I believe that was the goal.
ReplyDelete