Are You An Insomniac? Give Your Precious Smartphone Some Rest!
Blame it on the modern-day hectic lifestyle and exhausting work patterns, sleep disorders like Insomnia are becoming rather common among adults.
Never ending anxieties, excessive worrying over the future and the feeling of being engulfed by responsibilities can surely mess up your sleep patterns.
Unaware as you may be, there is a much bigger thing at play here. That precious, sleek, slim, smart gadget that instantly connects you with all the happenings of the world and has become an inseparable part of your life might be playing havoc with your beauty sleep! Yes, your smartphone may be a huge factor in aggravating your sleep problems.
Say, you suffer from interrupted sleep patterns and suddenly wake up in the middle of the night. Whilst reaching for your phone probably just to check the time, it’s almost impossible not to give into the urge of checking your social media messages and e-mail alerts to find out – Whether your last tweet received a reply? Whether someone accepted your friend request? Whether there was an important email which needed attention. You can pretty much forget about getting much sleep after that! Your mind will be constantly engaged by worries about an email, a text or a Facebook message that you’ve just seen, causing stress and tension, and inviting sleeplessness. The result is a tired mind and body at work, school or college the next day, adversely affecting your productivity.
There is another scientific reason why you should banish your smartphones from your bedroom before going to sleep. In a study published in the journal Nature in 2013, Harvard Medical School Professor Dr. Charles A. Czeisler, M.D., Ph.D opines that the artificial blue light emitted from electronic devices such as a smartphone activates arousing neurons with the brain, preventing us from feeling sleepy and disturbing the internal body clock. Using a smartphone for up to two hours before going to bed could mean taking an extra hour to fall sleep.
While insomnia does not in itself lead to physical impairments, the effects of insomnia can raise the risk of obesity, depression, stroke, heart attacks, diabetes and cancer, and in turn drive up the insurance premiums for the policyholder. The insurance company assumes that people who suffer from insomnia are susceptible to more than a few risks and price their policies accordingly.
Even for all it’s worth, you cannot compromise your health for your smartphone. So keep that shiny device locked away in another room at least an hour or two hours before your routine sleep time. Instead, switch to some old-fashioned sleep tactics such as reading a book and sleep your way to better health and longevity.
