In the modern age, almost everyone has had trouble sleeping at one time or another. And more likely than not, somebody told you that it is because you stared at your computer screen or your phone screen before bed.
Most of us assume that the lack of sleep comes from overstimulation of the brain, but there might be a bit more insidious reason for your bad sleep. Keep in mind that buying a mattress which suits you the best is probably the most successful strategy for good sleep, but do as much as you can.
However, other factors can affect your sleep patterns, and screengazing is one of such factors. Here’s how it affects us and what can be done about it.
The All-Important Melatonin
In order to feel sleepy and actually fall asleep, your body needs to produce a hormone called melatonin. It is typically secreted when your body assumes it is dark.
However, there are instances when melatonin production is disrupted by outside factors. This leads to bad sleeping habits, including insomnia. The screens of our electronic devices are one of the most common melatonin production suppressors.
It’s All Down to Cyan
In the past, you might have gone your whole life without ever thinking about the color cyan. However, in our computer oriented society, cyan is one of the most important colors as it is one of the basic colors used in computing, alongside with magenta and yellow.
Computer screens use three different colors –red, green, and blue to represent all other colors, including the cyan (created by combining green and blue) which comprises a lot of the light emitted from our devices.
Unbeknownst to most of us, cyan is actually a very good melatonin suppressant, meaning that it inhibits melatonin production, causing you not to feel sleepy anymore. Researchers have measured the production of melatonin when exposed to different amounts of cyan light and found a direct correlation between the two.
Can I Put This Knowledge to Some Use?
If you are thinking that you can use this newly found knowledge to your advantage, for instance, staring at your screen when you need to study all night, think again. In fact, nothing has changed since the last time you spent the whole night looking at the screen.
You will still wake up tired and you won’t be able to focus because you will be sleep deprived. Just because you know why something happens doesn’t make it less bad for you.
Getting plenty of a good night’s rest on a quality mattress and a good pillow is paramount for your health, so don’t skip on that.
New Technology
That being said, the researchers who have discovered this connection, from the University of Manchester may have come up with an idea how to counteract this problem.
They are developing a new type of screen which has a lot less cyan light in it, in hopes that it will help offset most of the melatonin suppression problems.
So even if you can’t give up the late night browsing, your sleep may not be as badly affected as it is now. Another group which might find this new invention particularly useful are people who work at their computer screens at night. Not only can they stay focused and more attentive, but also help them fall asleep more comfortably once they are done with work.
New discoveries which should help our daily lives are made every day. However, some truths are simply irrefutable, like the need for good sleep every night. Don’t substitute the all-important sleep for an extra hour or two of screengazing.
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