While it might be tempting to scroll through your phone, watch TV, or use your computer before bed, this habit can have several negative effects on your sleep and overall health:
- Disrupted Sleep Patterns: Screens emit blue light that can interfere with your circadian rhythm, which is your body’s internal clock that regulates your sleep-wake cycle. Exposure to blue light in the evening can trick your brain into thinking it’s still daytime, making it harder to fall asleep and disrupting your natural sleep patterns.
- Melatonin Disruption: Melatonin, a hormone that promotes sleep, is crucial for a good night’s rest. However, the blue light emitted by screens can significantly reduce its production, leading to difficulties in falling asleep and staying asleep. Lower melatonin levels can result in lighter, less restorative sleep.
- Increased Alertness: Engaging with stimulating content, whether an exciting TV show, an intense video game, or social media updates, can increase mental alertness and make it more difficult to unwind and relax before bed.
- Immediate Sleep Disruption: The use of screens before bed has an immediate and significant impact on sleep quality, leading to shorter sleep duration and increased awakenings during the night. This can leave you feeling tired and groggy the next day, affecting your mood, productivity, and overall well-being.
- Eye Strain and Discomfort: Staring at screens for extended periods can cause digital eye strain, leading to symptoms such as dry eyes, headaches, and blurred vision. This discomfort can make it harder to relax and fall asleep.
- Mental Health Impact: Poor sleep quality and inadequate rest can contribute to a range of mental health issues, including increased stress, anxiety, and depression. The cycle of using screens late at night and experiencing poor sleep can exacerbate these issues over time.
- Long-term Health Consequences: Consistently poor sleep, often caused by screen use before bed, can have severe long-term effects on physical health. These include an increased risk of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and weakened immune function, underscoring the importance of adopting healthier sleep habits.
- Social Impact
Interestingly, excessive screen usage cannot be attributed only to youngsters. The people working in multinationals who are working in different time zones while living in the other, are adversely impacted by the disturbed or altered sleep timing.
Reduced Face-to-Face Interaction: Spending excessive time on screens can limit opportunities for real-life social interactions, affecting the development of essential social skills.
Isolation: Late-night screen watching can lead to isolation from family and peers, as youngsters might prefer virtual interactions over in-person connections.
Expert Speaks
Interestingly, excessive screen usage is not limited to youngsters; it significantly affects adults, especially those working in multinational companies across different time zones. These individuals often find themselves glued to screens late into the night, navigating work demands and virtual meetings that cater to global schedules. This constant screen exposure and irregular sleep patterns disrupt their circadian rhythms, leading to altered sleep timings and poor sleep quality.
“Consider activities that encourage relaxation and prepare your body for sleep, such as reading a book, practising meditation, or taking a warm bath. Creating a calming pre-sleep environment can significantly improve sleep quality and overall health,” says Dr Devender Taneja, senior physician in Gurugram. “The resulting sleep deprivation can cause a host of issues, including increased stress, diminished cognitive function, and heightened susceptibility to mental health problems. There is an increase in the number of patients with insomnia, anxiety, lethargy, and mood swings. All of these are directed to unhealthy habits, excessive screen timing and disturbed body cycle. If the problem is not identified and nipped in the bud, it may cause depression and other co-related health problems.”
