How To Keep Screen Time From Sabotaging Your Sleep
Scrolling on Instagram, watching TikTok videos, even reading a trending article that someone just shared - all of these may seem like harmless ways to decompress at night after a busy day.
Unfortunately, quite the opposite is true.
Why Does Screen Time Hurt Sleep Time?
Your brain has a natural clock that helps your body function - what you know as your circadian rhythm. This stems from the production of melatonin, a sleep-inducing hormone. When it’s dark outside the brain knows it should be producing more melatonin than when it’s light out.
Melatonin signals your body when you should be awake and asleep. Cool, right?
Electronic screens (like those on your phone, iPad, computer, or TV) emit blue light. While otherwise harmless, this light halts your body’s production of melatonin.
Less melatonin = less sleep (or crappier sleep).
You might already be aware of this information. And still, you find yourself endlessly scrolling through your phone or watching just one more episode before bed.
We’ve been there before too - checking that email or texting a friend is second nature in today’s world. But fear not, we’ve got some advice that will make sure you limit harmful screen time to improve your sleep hygiene.
How Can I Mitigate These Negative Screen Effects?
Be Disciplined
The first and most important improvement you can make is to be disciplined in your nighttime screen use. Remember when you were a kid and couldn’t watch TV past a certain hour? Well, as an adult you should still be refraining from staring at devices at least 30 minutes before bed.
You can turn on downtime settings on your phone and laptop or use certain apps to keep you in routine.
Blue Light Filters
Because the issue with screens is that they shoot blue light into our eyes, a logical solution would be to stop that light in its tracks. That’s exactly what blue light filters do. This remedy comes in a variety of forms, including glasses, plastic screen sheets, apps, and device settings.
Depending on what you use, different amounts of blue light will be blocked. Red lens glasses are also great because they block 100% of blue light.
We’ve listed some of our favorite solutions below. Give a few of these a try to see if you observe any changes in your sleep quality. Don’t forget to keep track of what you notice in your sleep journal!
📵 Screen Time Discipline
🤓 Glasses
- BLUblox Sleep+ Glasses
- Sleep ZM Blue Light Blocking Glasses
- SafetyBlue Sleep Savior Red Lens Fit-Over Glasses