“Reduce Screen time for better quality of sleep”. This is my current note to self and I thought to share this with you. I have often talked about eating healthy, being more physically active and hydrating oneself (especially in hot climates)as ways to improve your health. One other important aspect of health I don’t often talk about is SLEEP.
Just like eating poorly and being sedentary, sleep is associated with higher risk of diabetes, heart diseases, obesity, depression and other chronic diseases.
Are you sleeping enough? What is the quality of the sleep that you get?
One way that your sleep quality can reduce is by spending more time on screens – laptops, phones.
How can these Screens affect your sleep?
Such devices produce blue lights that can disrupt your sleep cycle. They do this by tricking your brain to think its day time instead of night time.
By now, I hope you know that every living organism (us included) has biological clocks. The master clock is in the brain and operates a 24-hour cycle. This master clock is directed by light and temperature cues through the retina. These cues reset the clock each day.
We also have the peripheral clocks but I wouldn’t go into this now. The point I’m trying to bring out here is that our clocks are affected by Sleep time. (It also affects meal time and even what we eat.) When our biological clock is out of sync, it affects our brains and bodies.
In the evening, when you spend a lot of time on your screens – phones, tabs or laptops – your brain does not get the memo that it is time to sleep and the necessary hormone that needs to be secreted to put your body into the resting mode is inhibited.
In the process, you lose time on sleep and quality of sleep also.
So, Note to self again is “Reduce screen time for better quality of sleep”. If you have to work on your screen in the evenings or late into the night, you might consider using tinted glasses or glasses that block blue light. This can reduce the amount of blue light getting into your eyes.
In a nutshell
Sleep is important so please consider prioritizing sleep and the quality of your sleep. When you sleep better, you will be healthier. When you lie on your bed at night to rest, do not make your phones and tabs a priority. Instead, turn off the lights and have good quality rest.
As always, I encourage you to eat better and live better. Sleeping better will also help you achieve this.
Great piece !!!