We live in an era in which technology affects our sleeping pattern, mobile phones are particularly distracting and have become such a huge part of our daily lives that it’s often hard to put them down even at bedtime. Keeping your phone on your nightstand may not seem like a big deal, but technology affects your sleep in more ways than you realise. Whether you’re surfing the web, playing a videogame, or using your phone to check social media, you will be most likely be preventing yourself from getting a good night’s sleep.
It is recommended that you avoid any interaction with technology roughly 30 minutes before going to bed. This then allows your mind and body to relax and get into a calm state before going to sleep. On average it should take you roughly 10 minutes to drift off to sleep, any less than this will suggest that you are sleep deprived or any more than this will suggest that you either aren’t tired or they have an overstimulated mind. The best way to avoid this is to put down your phone before going to bed or to avoid watching the television in bed. A study has shown that on average people will spend 90 minutes on their phone every day, this is a large amount of time, suggesting that technology may be interfering with people’s sleeping patterns. Although going on your mobile phone whilst in bed may seems harmless, it can actually have more of an effect on your bed than you realise. Over stimulating your mind can make it hard to relax and settle drift off into a bliss sleep. After spending an entire day surrounded by technology, your mind needs time to unwind.
In summary, it would definitely appear that technology is having an effect on the quality of sleep that people are getting. We would therefore suggest that at nighttime, you put your phone down and perhaps read a book instead. Reading has been proven to ease the mind and therefore means that you can get to sleep more easily.
