Your phone is messing up your sleep cycle
Many of us are guilty of checking our smartphones right before bed. COURTESY PHOTO
What you need to know:
Just looking at one post on Instagram is usually not enough. Hours will go by until you notice it is past midnight. Many of us are guilty of checking our smartphones right before bed. Being glued to your screen before bedtime can be incredibly addictive and comforting in a sense, writes Beatrice Nakibuuka.
Kizito Wamala, a clinical psychologist at Centre for Victims of Torture says, artificial light is one of the biggest causes of sleep deprivation but the light in our smartphones, tablets and computers is even worse. These produce blue light which completely messes the sleep cycle by forcing our bodies to stay awake and be convinced that it is actually morning.
“Normally, at night, there is more low-wave red light that signals your body to prepare for bed. When the blue light from electronics interferes with this, it completely throws our bodies off guard. The best solution would be to stop using your smartphone at night because it not only causes insomnia but also other problems,” he says.
Sleep loss
Melatonin is the hormone that regulates the body’s sleeping cycle. If your sleep cycle is not properly regulated, you will not be able to get the amount of sleep you need. Blue light disrupts melatonin production, which directly translates to sleep loss. Sleep loss results in a variety of different health problems including depression and heart diseases.
Kizito remarks that, “Besides disrupting melatonin production, light emissions from electronic gadgets also disrupt hormones that control hunger, thereby increasing the risk of obesity. Lack of sleep also ruins insulin levels, which directly affects your body’s metabolism.”
Damage to the eyes
Blue light can damage eye sight by harming the retina over time and causing macular degeneration; the loss of central vision, or the inability to see what is right in front of you.
The light from the electronic gadgets has short and high energy wavelengths that easily flicker into the eyes, thereby causing a glare which reduces visual contrast and affects sharpness of an object.
This in turn causes blurry vision, difficulty in focusing, dry and irritated eyes, headaches, neck and back pain, after a day’s work at the computer.
Disrupts the brain
Getting less sleep makes it hard for children to study in class. As for the adults, it is usually hard to concentrate the next day, thereby leaving you distracted and impairs your memory the next day. This results in impaired cognitive function and behaviour.
Depression
“People whose melatonin levels are suppressed by light exposure are also prone to depression. Lack of sleep interferes with neurotransmitters which normally regulate our mood. It is therefore advisable that you shut down your electronics at least one or two hours before bed, and getting away from artificial light,” Kizito Wamala a clinical psychologist recommends.
