Ooooh, that smartphone is just so addictive. You can use it to check out what is happening in the world, keep up with friends that you can’t be bothered actually keeping up with, play games, take photos, conduct your own PR campaign to portray the “you” that you’d like to be, and even (in extreme cases) make or receive phone calls. Surely such a benevolent device could have no downside…could it? Alas, according to a new study it might be that your smartphone is harming your sleep.
For the new study more than 650 subjects downloaded an app for their smartphone that recorded their screentime over a 30 day period. Screentime was defined as whenever the screen was turned on. The subjects also kept records of their sleep hours and sleep quality.
Analysis of the results showed that the average amount of screentime over the 30 days was 38.4 hours and that smartphones were activated for about 3.7 minutes each hour. It was found however, that longer average screen times were associated with poor quality sleep and less sleep overall. This was especially true when phones were used near to bedtime.
It might be that the blue light of a smartphone is disrupting circadian rhythms by messing with your melatonin or it could be that the sheer stimulation of your ego-gland that the phone affords is enough to keep you awake.
Whatever the cause though, if you are having sleep problems and you are spending lots of time checking the friend in your pocket…(don’t go there)…then cutting back on your screentime might improve your dreamtime.
Source: PLoS ONE
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