Sleep Interruption
Your productivity for the next day depends on how well you sleep tonight. We all are well versed in advantages sound sleep bestows on us mortals, and your smartphones can be a big obstacle in harnessing these benefits. Even if you have any sort of “Do Not Disturb Mode” On, to avoid interruptions from numerous notification sources, you are vulnerable to pick and check your phone in those vulnerable moments between dozing off and lying on the bed. Or perhaps when you wake up in the middle of the night.
Research suggest that using electronic gadgets just before sleep can disrupt sleep patterns. The bright screen can inhibit production of melatonin, which can keep your brain in active mode for longer time.
More Susceptible to Damage
When you sleep with your smartphone next to you on your bed, there are good chances that you will inadvertently knock it off in your sleep. How many times has that sound disrupted your incipient slumber, just to make your wonder if it was the TV remote or the phone that just dropped? Especially, if you sleep on a low lying bed or for any reason, have a simple mattress setup on floor, you are more likely to stand or kneel on your bed when you wake up and there is every possible chance that you will step on your phone and make it go through an excruciating bend test, which it is not likely to survive.
Eye Strain
Reading from your smartphone screen in dark, damages your eye sight and is bound to give you a throbbing headache the following morning. If you use spectacles, you are more likely to be staring at your smartphone screen without putting on your specs at night, while in bed, and this could further deteriorate your eye health.
Radiation Effects
There is no conclusive study directly linking smartphones to health issues or cancer, but several scientists believe in harmful health effects from close proximity of your head to your smartphones. Isolated studies highlight that smartphone radiations could bring brain stress and prolong the time required to enter state of deep sleep. In todays world, we are showered with loads of radiation throughout our day, and it seems reasonable to steer off at least at night.
Conclusion
We strongly believe that gadgets break the rhythm our bodies needs for a refreshing sleep. Even if you put your smartphone next to your bed, you will be tempted to check notifications and other feeds, when you face slightest trouble sleeping.
Sleep experts recommend 2 to 3 hours of off screen time before sleep for a good night rest. If you have trouble parting with your phone, you could at least put it in airplane mode or switch off your WiFi before sleeping. For reading you can also use e-Ink displays like kindle reader which are light on eyes due to absence of backlight. We at GadgetsToUse, love our gadgets but still feel the need for digital detox every now and then. It will be difficult at first, but in the end it will be worth your while to curb smartphone addiction at night time.
