After a long day, you lay down in your bed and unlock your phone. You start by checking your messages app, but one thing leads to another and suddenly you’re watching a 15 minute Youtube tutorial on how to bake cloud bread. 2 Instagram posts, a TikTok binge, and 4 Netflix episodes later it’s 2 am and you’re sleep deprived once again.
Using a phone at bedtime is a vice that 71% of Americans struggle with, keeping their mobile devices within an arm’s reach every single night. Here’s how this bad habit of nighttime phone usage might be ruining your quality of sleep.
Blue Light Exposure
Harvard researchers have found that the light from your phone screen can be detrimental to your sleep schedule. This is called blue light, and its unique wavelengths are known to heighten your attentiveness and quicken your reaction times.
Although this can be useful for daytime productivity, it’s terrible for you when you’re trying to relax and fall asleep. Blue light exposure during late-night hours may be the reason why you’re struggling to shut down your mind at the end of the day.
Too Much Noise
As you sleep, you enter a circadian rhythm that determines your quality of rest. If that rhythm gets interrupted by jarring sounds, you’ll feel much more tired when you wake up.
The noises from your phone can have a big impact on how often you get startled while trying to enter your circadian rhythm, whether you get loud notifications from late texts or you fall asleep to a loud episode of a tv show.
Sleep Hygiene
Sleep hygiene is a crucial component of maintaining ideal health both physically and mentally. Signs of a poor sleep hygiene routine are constant daytime fatigue, waking up throughout the night, and a lack of focus while performing daily tasks.
Do any of these symptoms sound familiar? When you stay up answering emails or watching videos, you don’t protect your sleep from distractions that harm your sleep hygiene.
