Turn off, tune out, and drop off to dream land experts say

by Steve Ragan - Mar 8 2011, 10:00

The National Sleep Foundation's (NSF) released the results of their Sleep in America poll this week, and the results show that the longer a person uses technology before bed, the less likely they are to have a good night’s rest.

For some people, these days sleep is just rare anyway. When you add in technology, be it a laptop, smartphone, or television, giving that up before bedtime is next to impossible. Who doesn’t check for email or watch the news before bed? But the experts at the NSF say that these gadgets help keep us awake at night.

The NSF poll found that 43-percent of respondents between the ages of 13 and 64 said they rarely or never get a good night's sleep on weeknights. More than half added that they experience a sleep problem every night or almost every night.

Adding to this is the finding that Americans are highly active technology users in the hour before they hit the sheets. Ninety-five percent of the respondents to the NSF poll said that they use some type of tech, such as a TV, computer, video game, or cell phone at least a few nights a week within the hour before bed.

“Artificial light exposure between dusk and the time we go to bed at night suppresses release of the sleep-promoting hormone melatonin, enhances alertness and shifts circadian rhythms to a later hour - making it more difficult to fall asleep,” said Charles Czeisler, PhD, MD, of Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital.

“This study reveals that light-emitting screens are in heavy use within the pivotal hour before sleep. Invasion of such alerting technologies into the bedroom may contribute to the high proportion of respondents who reported that they routinely get less sleep than they need.”

For the young folk, 13-29 years of age, the vice is a video game before bed. However, computers ranked high as well. Smartphone usage, either for talking or texting others, was also high on the younger crowd’s list. Moreover, the younger respondents said that their phone disrupt their sleep at night as well. The baby boomers, those ages 46-64, like to watch TV.

“The higher use of these potentially more sleep - disruptive technologies among younger generations may have serious consequences for physical health, cognitive development and other measures of wellbeing,” said Lauren Hale, PhD, of Stony Brook University Medical Center.

More information is here.

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