General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsiPads, tablets, and smartphones disrupt good sleep
An interesting study, and the conclusions are based not on self-reporting but on actual melatonin levels.
During a two-week inpatient experiment involving a dozen adults, some participants were asked to read on an iPad for four hours each night before bedtime, for five consecutive nights. Others read printed books in dim light. After a week, the groups switched.
Researchers found that participants using iPads displayed reduced levels of melatonin, a hormone that typically increases in the evening and helps induce sleepiness. They took longer to fall asleep, and spent less time in restorative REM, or rapid-eye movement, sleep.
In addition, the iPad readers reported being sleepier and less alert the following morning, even after eight hours of sleep. They also displayed delayed circadian rhythms.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2014/12/22/ipads-tablets-smartphones-disrupt-good-sleep-study-finds/?hpid=z4
pinto
(106,886 posts)I've read somewhere that we're "wired" to need a solid period of darkness to settle into solid, deep sleep.
And sleeping out has the added benefit - star gazing.
Politicalboi
(15,189 posts)I don't have a cell or an iPad, but just get me reclined in that recliner for about an hour at night, and I'm gone. Even though I wasn't tired before reclining.
Quantess
(27,630 posts)TeamPooka
(24,229 posts)mainer
(12,022 posts)It's difficult and costly to conduct a more massive study under those parameters.
Also, this study mirrors what's been reported in other scientific literature for years: that the blue light emitted from electronic screens is disrupting sleep, which in turn affects metabolism and may increase obesity and risk of cancer. The conclusions are not new. But this, at least, measures actual melatonin blood levels.
http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletters/harvard_health_letter/2012/may/blue-light-has-a-dark-side/
http://sleepfoundation.org/ask-the-expert/electronics-the-bedroom
spinbaby
(15,090 posts)Getting older, my eyesight isn't what it used to be and I LOVE large print on a backlit screen. I've read about screen time interfering with sleep though and have partially compensated by using a sepia background in the evening.