Well, you and I just might have an iProblem. Seriously. Some researchers are drawing a link between insomnia and iPads, laptops, and other electronic devices that emit light. Read the CNN story below:
(CNN) -- J.D. Moyer decided recently to conduct a little experiment with artificial light and his sleep cycle.
The sleep-deprived Oakland, California, resident had read that strong light -- whether it's beaming down from the sun or up from the screens of personal electronics -- can reset a person's internal sleep clock.
So, for one month, whenever the sun set, he turned off all the gadgets and lights in his house -- from the bulb hidden in his refrigerator to his laptop computer.
It worked. Instead of falling asleep at midnight, Moyer's head was hitting the pillow as early as 9 p.m. He felt so well-rested during the test, he said, that friends remarked on his unexpected morning perkiness.
"I had the experience, a number of times, just feeling kind of unreasonably happy for no reason. And it was the sleep," he said. "Sure, you can get by with six or seven hours, but sleeping eight or nine hours -- it's a different state of mind."
Moyer may be onto something.
More than ever, consumer electronics -- particularly laptops, smartphones and Apple's new iPad -- are shining bright light into our eyes until just moments before we doze off.
Now there's growing concern that these glowing gadgets may actually fool our brains into thinking it's daytime. Exposure can disturb sleep patterns and exacerbate insomnia, some sleep researchers said in interviews.
"Potentially, yes, if you're using [the iPad or a laptop] close to bedtime ... that light can be sufficiently stimulating to the brain to make it more awake and delay your ability to sleep," said Phyllis Zee, a neuroscience professor at Northwestern University and director of the school's Center for Sleep & Circadian Biology.
"And I think more importantly, it could also be sufficient to affect your circadian rhythm. This is the clock in your brain that determines when you sleep and when you wake up."
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Sometimes I wonder how much our electronic lives are hindering our experiential lives, that being the way we experience life. As far as time cycles go, my grandparents slept 9 to 5 and worked 6 to 4. My parents sleep 10 to 7 and work 8 to 5. I try to sleep 12 to 8 and work 9 to 6 (or 7 or 8 or 9).
I credit the electronic age to my different sleep and work cycles. For example, I have always stayed up later because of television, computers, and the availability of electric lights. I usually don't go home at 4 or 5 because I can work later thanks to computers and lights. It doesn't matter when the sun goes down. A recent as 70 years ago people rose and dozed based on the sun's timing. They were asleep by 9 and up with the sun.
So is your iPod, iPad, or laptop keeping you up at night? I don't enjoy turning on my home computer in the evenings because I work on one all day, but I eventually do. And I'll spend about an hour on it after I get home. But only an hour. I'm considering following J.D. Moyer's lead and turning off my electronic distractions for a while to see if that helps me sleep. Maybe I will, maybe I won't. We'll see.
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1 comments:
Only your grandfathers went to bed early and got up early, John. Both of your grandmothers are night owls and have always preferred staying up later and getting work done around the house at that time. And both your grandmothers have had to get up probably too early because of the men they were married to and/or their home responsibilities. Perhaps I am generalizing, but it seems to me only the *men* of the past had the luxury of a full night's sleep.
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