Research has shown that American adults devote an estimate of 11 hours each day on screens. It is widely known that screen time can provoke a hit of addictive dopamine, and that is the reason many are unable to keep our phones down easily. Also, it was seen that one in three USA adults suffer from lack of sleep and there is always the excuse ‘waking up on the wrong side of the bed’ more usual than not.
Though, a new study has shown results which will revealed at the annual European Society of Endocrinology meeting in Lyon this month, researchers have gotten an easy solution for this problem. It has been discovered that sleep can be made better in just a week by restricting your exposure to screens (inclusive of phones, tablets and computers) before hitting the bed.
Why staying away from tech enhances your sleep so rapidly
The study, which was performed as a collaboration between the Netherlands Institute of Neuroscience, the Amsterdam UMC, and the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, viewed the of screen time in Dutch youngsters of ages between 12 to 17. The researchers split the category of teens in 2 group; continual screen users (those who recorded an average of 4 hours each day on screens) and inconsistent screen users (those who only used screens for an hour each day). Then they viewed how the teenagers slept after they used their phones usually before bed, when they used light-blocking glasses while spending time on their phones before bed, and also when they stayed away completely from using any technology before bed.
After five weeks of observation, it was discovered that the biggest sleep disturber is blue light, which is released from all screens. Blue light can impact our brain clock by stopping the production of melatonin, which causes us to believe we aren’t even tired. However, the researchers also discovered that by using light-blocking glasses or restraining screen use completely. The alteration was rapid too; It was evident that teens were sleeping better after only one week of using the glasses or completely leaving the screen time before bed!
“Adolescents increasingly spend more time on devices with screens, and sleep complaints are frequent in this age group,” says Dirk Jan Stenvers, a researcher from the Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism of the Amsterdam UMC. “Here we show very simply that these sleep complaints can be easily reversed by minimizing evening screen use or exposure to blue light. Based on our data, it is likely that adolescent sleep complaints and delayed sleep onset are at least partly mediated by blue light from screens.”
The researchers think to perform this study on adults next
Trying to go to sleep more quickly
Sleep is vital for many reasons, but most importantly because lack of sleep is linked to higher risks of obesity, diabetes and heart diseases. By enhancing your sleep pattern, you can see make other parts of your life better.
Thinking what you will do when lying in bed awaiting to fall asleep with no use of your phone or any other technology? Incorporation to decrease screen time or wearing blue-light-reducing glasses before bed, holistic psychiatrist Ellen Vora, M.D., suggests to create your bedroom like a cave, with low temperatures and blackout shades to make it effortless for you to jump into a drowsy feeling once in bed.
“If I’m really wound tight, I’ll take a few minutes to do a breathing exercise called 4-7-8 breathing,” she shares with mbg. “I lie down on my bed, place my hands on my abdomen, then inhale for 4 counts, hold for 7, and exhale for 8. This hack can essentially trick the nervous system into believing you’re not stressed, even if you are.”
The more relaxed your brain is, the easier it is to jump into deep sleep.
