How phones affect your sleep?

How phones affect your sleep? Our mobile devices have become such an important and relied upon piece of technology That it’s often hard to put them down.

 A consumer survey, conducted by Deloitte, found that: 

• 64% of people claim that their mobile occupy them at work
• 12% of people would highly consider a switch to superfast 5G data speeds 
• 48% of people use fingerprint recognition for smartphone passwords
• 84% of people are worried that their data is being distributed by third parties by mobile apps

In addition, a survey by YouGov stated that:

• 55% of people checked their phones whiles eating
• 54% of people couldn’t be without their phone for over two days
• 20% of people couldn’t go longer than two hours without checking up on their phones  
• 65% of people use their phones whilst in bed

Just to name a few of the collected data that shows how much we rely on our mobile devices. 

1: The blue light suppresses melatonin

The blue light emitted by our phones can suppress your melatonin. (For those who are unaware of what melatonin is, a hormone secreted by the pineal gland. Basically it’s an enzyme that the body produces to get to sleep.) the “blue” light that is emitted, can halt the production of melatonin. Exposure to all colours of light helps control your natural sleep and wake cycle, or circadian rhythm. 

More so than any other colour, blue light disrupts your body’s ability to prepare for sleep, because it blocks melatonin that makes you tired. A way to avoid this is to give yourself at least 30 minutes before bed so that your slumber is uninterrupted and restful. So next time you are heading to bed, instead of browsing Instagram you could perhaps read a book before bed.

2: How REM is affected

You REM is your Rapid Eye Movement that happens 90 minutes after you fall asleep. The first period of REM typically lasts 10 minutes. Each of your later REM stages gets longer, and the final one may last up to an hour. You can have intense dreams during REM sleep since your brain is more active. However, getting to this state more difficult as the blue light (as stated before) can prevent you from getting that sweet slumber that you so desire.

3: How do phones affect your sleep and cause deprivation 

If you are missing vital rest then it could cause major health problems in the near future, such as: 

• Increased risk for depression and mental illness 
• Increase risk for stroke, heart disease and asthma attack
• Insomnia 
• Hallucinations 
• Severe mood swings

Just to name a few. These are all risks that could happen to you if you miss out on sleep due to your mobile keeping you up all night. Even if you leave your phone on the bedside table and simply ignored it and read a book, well when you’re asleep a notification such as a late-night, email, texts or calendar reminders could wake you enough to interfere with your REM cycle and make you have a disturbed rest. 

4: more alert when going to sleep

While lying in bed with your phone, feeling relaxed? Right? Wrong! Turns out that actually makes you more alert, less tired and more likely to procrastinate when you will finally go to sleep. However, if you were reading a book and started to feel tired and relaxed, then you’re doing it right and will, in consequence, receive a night’s rest.

Whereas if you were reading from a screen then it would have the reverse effect and would be more difficult to ignore and you would end up feeling restless and quite stressed about your entire situation.

5: It will take longer for you to go to sleep

Study shows that it would take on average an extra 10 minutes to fall asleep for a person using a device to read an e-book than someone who is not. Maybe try to watch something on Netflix instead of doing anything on your phone or other mobile devices. Just try and you’ll see the difference, you’ll feel much more tired and more relaxed, ready for bed.