Blue light is harmful to your eyes. The blue light emitted by your cell phone screen restrains the production of melatonin, the hormone that controls your sleep-wake cycle (aka circadian rhythm). This makes it even more difficult to fall asleep and wake up the next day.
Mistake: Sleeping with your cell phone
Bad idea. Cell phones pump out electromagnetic radiation whenever they're on - which means sleeping with one nearby boosts your exposure all night long. What to do? Put the phone on "airplane mode" (which shuts down the transceiver) or turn it off.
Device screens produce blue light, Dr. Cooper says, which is the part of the light spectrum most active in our sleep cycle. Stimulation of this part of the brain suppresses production of melatonin, making it difficult for many people to “turn off” their brains and fall asleep.
Along with reducing melatonin levels, nighttime exposure to blue light can reduce the length of REM sleep, which can make you feel less alert and take longer to be fully awake in the morning. In bed, or even before it, researchers have found exposure to the light from screens can impact sleep.
Too much phone usage in bed can also indirectly lead to insomnia. This is in combination with the other effects above. When the blue light is blocking your melatonin production, and you are stressed every night from overstimulation, there is a possibility of developing insomnia.
Eye Strain and Headaches - Too much time spent looking at screens can cause fatigue or discomfort in your eyes as well as dimmed vision. Glare on screens and the brightness of the display can place further strain on your eyes. Eventually, this strain can lead to headaches.
6-12 years old: should go to sleep between 7:30 and 8:30 pm. 13-18 years old: should go to sleep around 10:00 pm. Bare in mind that once puberty hits, it will be difficult for teenagers to fall asleep until around 11 pm.
Stop using electronic devices 30 minutes before bed.
The National Sleep Foundation recommends that you should stop using electronic devices, like your cellphone, at least 30 minutes before bedtime. Instead, grab the book that's been tucked away in your nightstand and start reading before bed.
The hour before bed should consist of relaxing activities that don't involve devices with screens. Make Your Bedroom a Screen-Free Zone: While a lot of people prefer to keep a television in their bedroom, watching TV before bed is generally discouraged due to the negative effect it can have on your sleep.
There's nothing wrong with wearing a bra while you sleep if that's what you're comfortable with. Sleeping in a bra will not make a girl's breasts perkier or prevent them from getting saggy. And it will not stop breasts from growing or cause breast cancer.
"Simply put, hair is at its most vulnerable when wet. Sleeping with wet hair can lead to a host of problems for the scalp: unwanted bacteria, fungal infections, skin irritation, itchiness, dryness, redness, and dandruff," says hairstylist Miko Branch, co-founder of hair care brand Miss Jessie's.
Sleep texting refers to a phenomenon in which a person replies to text messages or initiates sending messages while they are technically asleep. Sleep texting is not a stand-alone diagnosis. Instead, it is generally grouped in with other parasomnias.
A child's mind and body needs sleep – just as much as air, food, and water – in order to grow and thrive. In fact, turning OFF the TV (and other digital devices) about an hour before bedtime is the best thing you can do to ensure your child gets a good night's sleep.
Go to bed at the same time each night and get up at the same time each morning, including on the weekends. Make sure your bedroom is quiet, dark, relaxing, and at a comfortable temperature. Remove electronic devices, such as TVs, computers, and smart phones, from the bedroom.
Choose Relaxing Content
If you're trying to decide what to do, go for passive screen time, such as watching TV, over active screen time, like playing games or being on your phone. Some research shows active screen use may impact your sleep more than passive screen time.
Seeing or reading something negative first thing in the morning can trigger your stress response and put you on edge for the rest of the day. Similarly, if you see unanswered work emails, you may feel compelled to respond even while you're still lying in bed.
Excessive device use can lead to feelings of being disconnected when we spend time with friends and family. Concentration and learning issues. Wanting to check your smartphone all the time may affect concentration and distract you when you are in a class or work environment. Less physical activity.
The body releases the sleep hormone melatonin later at night in teens than in kids and adults. This resets the body's internal sleep clock so that teens fall asleep later at night and wake up later in the morning. Most teens just aren't sleepy enough for bed before 11 p.m.
All-nighters have extensive and potentially serious negative effects. Sleep is vital to the proper functioning of the body, and completely skipping a night of sleep can harm your thinking and cognition, your mood and emotions, and your physical well-being.
DEAR CONCERNED: It is not appropriate for parents to co-sleep with adolescent children, partly because adolescents need and deserve some privacy, as they engage in the developmentally important process of figuring out who they are and what they're about.
There is no specific amount of time spent on your phone, or the frequency you check for updates, or the number of messages you send or receive that indicates an addiction or overuse problem.
Close your mouth and quietly inhale through your nose to a mental count of four. Hold your breath for a count of seven. Exhale through your mouth, making a whoosh sound for a count of eight. Repeat the process three more times for a total of four breath cycles.