When you ask any adult what they want most in life but is often out of their reach, their answer would probably be to get a good night’s sleep. We used to hate being told to go to sleep when we were kids and we’d try to wiggle our way out of an afternoon nap. But as we grow older and we take on more life responsibilities, we realize how important sleep is as we desperately try to stay awake through the night because of school or work obligations.
Now, there is also technology that fights for your attention aside from your daily chores and pursuits. Back in the days, we had nothing left to do once the lights go out. But today, we can still stay awake for hours at night because our smartphone gives us access to the World Wide Web and our social media accounts where we live our virtual life. But if technology gets in the way of your sleep, is still there something you can do about this or is this now the plight of the modern human?
We’ve all heard the reports concerning how technology, particularly our phones and tablets, can mess with our sleep cycle through the blue light they emit.
Although there are some very real concerns about how technology affects our rest, not all of it is seen in a negative light, and today I’m going to give you a quick run down of the good, the bad and the very ugly of technology in the bedroom.
The Good
Technology is ingrained into our everyday life with the advancements of high speed connections, affordable internet, instant social connections and even influences how we shop. Therefore, it makes sense that it would seep into our bedrooms in ways we haven’t considered or even paid attention to.
But it also has a bad side to it…
The Bad
Most of us sleep with our phones near us and it is the last thing we look at before we drift off to sleep each night. But how many of you find yourself unable to fall asleep readily, or struggling to calm your thoughts in order to get to sleep? If you’ve ever wondered why you have these issues, look no further than the technology in your bedroom.
(Via: http://southfloridareporter.com/technology-changing-way-sleep/)
It is quite obvious that we lack sleep because we devote too much of our time fiddling with different gadgets. As technology advances and offered us devices like smartphones and tablets where you can do virtually everything and get connected to almost everyone on the web, striking a balance between technology use and sleeping time all boils down to your self-discipline.
There’s an old saying in sleep medicine: bedrooms are for slumber, sex and nothing else. Nowadays, though, that idea is all but obsolete — thanks to the all-invading domination of smartphones, tablets and laptops.
Yet a wealth of research demonstrates why everyone should banish screens from the bedroom — even if they’re switched off. And it’s not just because of the light they generate.
Experts fear the havoc they wreak on our sleep is sentencing us — and our children — to lives dogged by obesity, diabetes and even Alzheimer’s.
The Mail reported on the latest evidence, with NHS data showing that in the past decade, hospital attendances in England for children under 14 with sleep disorders have tripled.
And it’s their use of mobile technology that is being blamed. Phone and tablet screens are now a mainstay of teenagers’ bedrooms. Studies show that seven in ten British children and nine in ten teenagers have at least one device in their bedrooms.
(Via: http://www.iol.co.za/lifestyle/family/sleep/why-your-phone-is-keeping-you-awake-at-night-8077191)
While most findings point to technology as the culprit of sleep deprivation and the worsening of existing sleep disorders, it can also be used to your advantage.
Various sleep apps, which use a motion-tracker and/or a sound-recorder, claim to tap into those circadian rhythms, by apparently monitoring sleep patterns. A “smart alarm” will then wake you in a light sleep cycle that is nearest your ideal wake time.
These apps generally fall into two standard forms: fitness trackers that have sleep-tracking capabilities (typically involving a wearable sensor or wristband that tracks your body movements as you sleep) or smartphone apps that use an accelerometer built to record your movements.
There are other options to choose from aside from these sleeping apps. If you find yourself tossing and turning each night and waking up more exhausted than the night before, you are likely suffering from a sleeping disorder like sleep apnea. The usual sleeping tips do not work here because this is a medical condition that needs a medical management as well.
You can try using an anti-snoring mouthpiece like this one: https://snoringmouthpiecereview.org/good-morning-snore-solution to help you beat snoring and maintain continuous airflow during sleep. If you want to find out more alternatives before choosing one, you can likewise check out https://snoringmouthpiecereview.org/snorerx for another anti-snoring device you can use to let you enjoy a good night’s sleep. Of course, minimizing technology use can also help a lot for you to feel relaxed during bedtime, so you sleep better through the night.
