The publishing house “Mann, Ivanov and Ferber” published a book by Sean Stephenson “Healthy sleep”. The author tells why it is impossible to sacrifice sleep in favor of other cases and what habits help you sleep. “Pravmir” publishes an excerpt about why it is necessary to switch off the phone for 1.5 hours before bedtime.
- Poorly disable mobile?
- You forgot the mobile phone in the fear to return for it
- Put aside your smartphone and watch “Peppa Pig”
- The social network is a drug? Is there a problem, depending on the gadgets
- Why employees do not give Facebook gadgets for their children
Shawn Stevenson
To improve the quality of sleep, you need to spend less time in front of screens of electronic devices in the evenings. Blue light emitted from computers, iPads, TVs, smartphones and other gadgets, steals your rest and can lead to serious sleep disorders. Artificial blue light of electronic screens, causes the body to produce more daytime hormones (like cortisol) and violates the natural preparation for the holiday.
It is not easy to appreciate the power of artificial blue light, if you look at the screen up close. Near you see motley, multicolor palette. But if being in a fairly dark room, take a step back, you’ll notice that the hypnotic blue beyond-and shines more powerful than the other shades. The same thing you could see, driving through night streets and watching from the Windows of houses flows a majestic blue light. At this point you must have thought something like: “I Wonder what they are watching?” or “I Wonder if they are not abducted by aliens?” This blue light is incredibly annoying and has truly cosmic abilities to harm our sleep.
Researchers from Brigham and Women’s hospital in Boston found that using light-emitting electronic devices before the night’s rest can have a negative effect on overall health, the attention and work of the biological clock responsible for circadian rhythm sleep. Compared with study participants who read traditional books, fans of electronic publications need more time to sleep, they felt less sleepy in the late evening, and their REM-sleep phase (REM sleep, or REM (REM — “rapid eye movement”, eng. REM — rapid eye movement) phase of sleep characterized by increased brain activity. One of the hallmarks of this phase — rapid eye movement) was shorter.
Those who read on your iPad, produced less melatonin, which is known to greatly affect the quality of sleep. It is particularly important that the next day they also felt more tired in comparison with those who read paper books, despite the fact that everyone slept for 8 hours.
Mariana, figueiró, PhD from the research centre for the study of light at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, and her team has proven that just two hours of exposure to the computer screen before bed is sufficient to suppress nocturnal production of melatonin. Violation of the secretion of melatonin causes disruptions in the normal sleep cycle.
Dr. figueiró also noted: the use of electronic devices at night for a long time, lead to chronic disruption of circadian biological rhythms, which substantially increased the risk of serious health problems.
It is important to remember that the use of all these gadgets has become possible only in recent decades. First there was TV, and then, not so long ago, into our lives a hurricane broke laptops, tablets and smartphones. Millions of years of evolution versus a couple of decades — this situation is clearly not in favor of our ability to adapt to night vigils for an iPad in the foreseeable future.
We literally are not designed to spend hours staring at the luminous flux emitted by the electronics. We should act like the girl from “Poltergeist” and “stay away from the light.” (This movie still scares me terribly!)
Yes, now we can’t work without electronic devices, and the technology available today, truly amazing. But you must use them wisely, so we need to better understand the natural processes occurring in our body.
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How to regain the brain
In the 1980-ies was popular promotional video, explaining the dangers of drug use. The actor shows a chicken egg and said: “This is your brain”. Then breaks the egg in the frying pan. It begins to sizzle, and the actor says: “This is your brain on drugs. Are there any questions?”
This is I stay away from drugs and are wary of the eggs.
These anti-drug commercials had an incredibly powerful effect. But they missed the most important point, which we know today that our brain is the world’s largest manufacturer of the drug. Opioids, serotonin, dopamine, epinephrine made it when we, consciously or not, involved in a particular activity or lifestyle. Most drugs involve already existing in the body chemical channels, and it allows them to exert influence. Drugs artificially stimulate these channels. Your favorite electronic devices work the same way.
I in any case do not urge you to abandon all these wonderful technical devices. I love my smartphone, laptop, etc. Thanks to them we can communicate with different people, faster to learn and do it practically from anywhere in the world. Just need to wisely use the gadgets that we control them, not they us.
Most importantly — awareness. Realizing what is happening in the brain during the viewing of the tape Facebook, you will break the template.
Finding himself at the edge of a black hole called the Internet, stop. Otherwise, the brain will create a template (he loves it), and you will only reinforce the unwanted behavior.
Get up, drink a glass of water, hug a loved one or children if you have them. Make a banner (of what benefits sleep has to do with the body, you will learn in Chapter 19), call someone or turn on your favorite music. There are many actions that will help to overcome the addiction. At the slightest suspicion that the evening use of gadgets is causing sleep problems, you need to do something to break the cycle.
The book has many useful tips, ideas and strategies that will help you sleep better. This Chapter is dedicated to one of the most difficult obstacles to a good night’s rest. Yes, wean yourself to look at the screen late in the evening first will be hard but it is worth the try.
Modern world is very different from the one in which our parents lived, grandparents just a few decades ago. Sometimes there are situations when to abandon the gadgets in the evenings is impossible (an important event, work, family view the film). Below you will learn how to protect themselves from the effects of harmful blue light and in such cases.
To free themselves from technological shackles need with pleasure.
It is not enough to say, “Okay, tonight I shut down the computer for a couple of hours before bedtime. Ha ha! I beat you, Internet!” and nothing else to do.
This is a surefire way to cause a withdrawal syndrome (reaction of the body that arise in response to the stoppage of the substance that causes addiction (alcohol, nicotine, narcotics, drugs and psychotropic drugs). If you are seriously considering to abandon the gadgets in the evenings, you need to do before you dream something pleasant. Music, good company, reading — find something that will fill the vacuum. In the future I will share with you some useful ideas on this.
Tip # 1
Make it a habit to turn off any electronic devices at least 1.5 hours before bedtime, to normalize the levels of melatonin and cortisol. Warning: leading late night talk show won’t pay for your sick leave.
Tip # 2
Think of what else to do with myself in the evening. Maybe you have wonderful pieces of paper called “books”? Open one of these “Antiques” and enjoy the fascinating history, finding inspiration or something to learn. Do you remember the time when people talked to each other for real, face-to-face? You too can talk with family and friends, to hear about their day, find out what makes them happy or worried. Obviously, they can do the same.
On the one hand, we relate to each other more closely than before, but on the other – we, by contrast, are desperately lacking communication. The ability to turn off the gadget and keep the conversation going, showing interest to the interlocutor, it is vital for the health and well-being.
Tip # 3
Turn off notifications in your device. Psychologist, a behaviorist, PhD Susan Weinshenk says: “One of the most effective ways to overcome the dopamine dependence and increase its efficiency (and sleep better!) — get rid of the notifications.
Go to settings, phone, laptop, computer or tablet and turn off automatic alerts. It is considered that this is a wonderful function, but in fact they force us to behave like rats in a cage”. If you want to sleep well and control your own brain, turn off all visual and sound notifications: this will give an immediate effect.
Tip # 4
Use a blue light blocker. There are circumstances when you need a computer at a later hour than we would like. To cope with this situation will help technological innovations.
I installed on my Mac is a free application f.lux, which every day at a certain time removes malicious blue light from your computer screen (you can also install a similar app on smartphone and other electronic devices). I repeat: if you are serious about sleep quality, your best option is to turn off all gadgets at least 1.5 hours before him. If this is not feasible, the blocker will come in handy.
You can also purchase glasses that filter the blue spectrum. They are suitable for different occupations and in addition work at the computer, and thanks to them, the body will produce more melatonin at night.
If you like this topic and you are not averse to look like a man from the future, unable to go everywhere with glasses that block blue light and give the whole a pleasant and mild orange tint. About these glasses wore brad and Angelina in an epic battle scene from the movie “Mr. and Mrs. Smith”. If you buy cheap eyewear, it will not look as cool… But in the end, you wear them for scientific purposes, not for beauty!