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Screen Time Tips for Better Sleep

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Screen Time Tips for Better Sleep by Josh Ochs SmartSocial.com

When it comes to late-night screen time, we try to set healthy limits for ourselves and our families but often fall short. Television has long been part of the evening routine for many of us, but now we’ve added smartphones, laptops, tablets and other devices into the mix.

We use them to watch videos, chat with friends, study or even catch up on work. That’s a mixed blessing. On the one hand, our devices and apps make everything more convenient.

On the other, it can make it hard for us to unplug, with teens in particular notorious for staying glued to their devices late into the night. In fact, for teens it can be doubly problematic, because studies have demonstrated an underlying biology that makes them prone to staying up late as it is. As a result, teens might not be getting enough sleep for optimal alertness and concentration during the day.

Teens might not be getting enough sleep for optimal alertness and concentration during the day.

The impact of blue light emitting from our electronic screens

To paraphrase a study in the Journal of Adolescent Health, the light from our screens can suppress melatonin—a hormone that helps regulate sleep and wake cycles—and increase alertness (which is great in some circumstances, but not so much if you’re trying to sleep).

Limiting screen time at night is great in theory but can be hard to enforce

And if you like to cap off your own evening by reading a good e-book in bed, don’t fool yourself that it’s any better than your son or daughter watching YouTube late at night. Harvard University neuroscientist Anne-Marie Chang told the Scientific American that when she and her colleagues examined the effects of reading on a light-emitting device versus a printed book, people using devices look longer to fall asleep and had less REM sleep.

Alternatives to unplugging all the screens in your house after dark:

Wear amber colored glasses before bed

example of amber colored glasses

With orange- or amber-tinted lenses, they’re designed to protect your eyes from the blue-wavelength light that decreases melatonin and interferes with sleep. So far, the research on these inexpensive glasses looks promising. According to Reuters, a Swiss study observed that “teen boys who used computers and other digital devices while wearing (blue-blocker) glasses every evening for a week felt markedly more relaxed and sleepy at bedtime.”

I bought a pair myself for about $10 at Amazon, and I’ve since bought them for my family members and staff. As nerdy as it feels at first, I’ve been wearing them for about a month, and it has positively impacted my work time because I’m getting better sleep at night.

Use warm-light light bulbs

GE has ventured beyond electronic screens to design a product for use anywhere in the house. GE’s new Align LED technology includes specially designed “PM Bulbs” designed to mimic natural candlelight without disrupting sleep circadian rhythm. (The new Align bulbs also feature an AM version to promote wakefulness in the morning.)
The GE Align PM Lighting Bulb retails for $19.99 at Amazon.

Experiment with other light-filtering products

In addition to glasses and light bulbs, the website LowBlueLights also features novel light-filtering products for nighttime use such as “low-blue” flashlights, acrylic, press-on screen filters and more.

Use Night Shift features on your phone and tablets

Night Shift could vastly improve the sleep for those who use their phones in bed.

With Night Shift, Apple uses your location and determines the right time to automatically shift your iPhone or iPad screen from blue to a warmer, yellow tone. This app could vastly improve the sleep for those who use their phones in bed.

Though in fairness Apple was preceded in introducing this technology by an app called f.lux, which did much the same thing but has now been banned by Apple, Fast Company is lauding Night Shift as “one of Apple’s most impactful UX improvements ever, single-handedly improving the sleep of millions of people per year.”

The bottom line? While you might be on your own with other ways technology sometimes conspires to keep us up too late, new and emerging products are showing a lot of success in solving at least this one. So unless you’re willing to go off the grid at sundown, these new lights and filters are worth giving a try—and if you do, please let us know how they work for you in the comments below.

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This is great info, thanks for giving me some ideas on how to start a dialogue with my teen!

StarStarStarStarStar

Sharon M.

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Quotation marks

Josh's presentation about social media was unbelievably fantastic. Our students learned so much about what kids should and shouldn't be doing. The fact that it is such a thoughtful process made it all worthwhile.

StarStarStarStarStar

Director of College Advising

Educator Webinar Attendee

Quotation marks

This webinar is a very helpful eye-opener on the apps that are popular with my students.

StarStarStarStarStar

Irene C.

Educator Webinar Attendee

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