Your smartphone could be your guide, mobile newspaper, weather reporter, alarm clock, fitness trainer, and more. With a device that can make our lives easier, are we getting enough sleep? Well, if the answer is, "Not too well", or "I could do with more sleep", then your smartphone is to blame. At times, we hear people say that they fell asleep while chatting at night or playing games. Such is the addiction to a device that was invented to ease our lives.
Surveys conducted on youngsters have found that smartphones are disrupting their realm of sleep. By your smartphone disturbing your sleep, the claim is not that the great invention is responsible for overturning the peaceful sleep patterns that people have been following for centuries. With smartphones, came great technologies that keep us dependent on these devices for longer than expected. It is this smartphone dependency that makes us carry our handheld devices to bed, and be connected even when we are asleep.
Studies have proven that smartphones and other such gadgets emit a light, which is called as blue light. When the surroundings are dark at night, the special cells situated behind our eyeballs pick up the light and send false communication to the brain that it is morning. Our brain interprets it to be the light from the sun, and hence boosts alertness. As a result, the brain stops producing melatonin, the hormones inside our body that control our sleep and waking cycles. This enough can disrupt our sleep which further keeps us glued to the smartphones, leading to sleep-deprivation. When our circadian rhythm is altered, we could succumb to a range of health problems such as depression. Besides, this can affect our cardiovascular health, or even cause diabetes in some.
Sleep is an indispensable biological need. Sleep disruption and technological addiction are not what smartphones and other such gadgets were invented for. Putting them to wise use and paying attention to our body's needs are what we must do to stop these gadgets from taking control of our lives.
