I’m NOT referring to something at the beach, but something many of us are guilty of doing at bedtime: grabbing our smartphone and catching up on the news, social media, or a game.
There have been numerous studies, articles, and blogs about this bad habit which can jeopardize our health… why are we still doing it? Let’s face it – we as a society have become addicted! The only thing that we can do at this point is understand why this habit is bad, and suffer through the withdrarwal as we let go of this addiction.
Please understand there can actually be serious health risks:
- Eye-damaging. Blue light from the electronic device can damage our vision (retinas), and could contribute towards macular degeneration or vision loss.
- Sleep-interfering. Blue light disrupts melatonin production, which we need to regulate our sleep cycle, and lower our risk of cancer.
- Disease Risk-increasing. Chronically suppressing melatonin levels can impact our body’s ability to fight against cancer and other chronic illnesses.
A strategy to minimize health risk is to get the features which can help with adjusting the blue light (Night Shift -iOS or Twilight -Android). This can help, but the real remedy is to shut off the phone at night!
In an effort to gain control over this habit, let’s make a pledge to only surf every other night this week, and fill in the off days with a good book, journaling, or just plain snuggling – body pillows included! Please store the phone at least 3 feet away from your body at night. Then next week we can decide to continue or minimize the surfing more. Deal?
References
- Smart phones ruin more than your sleep, http://www.businessinsider.com/smartphones-effect-on-vision-and-health-2014-9?_ga=1.244291597.981896912.1458665213
- Blocking the Blue, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1857207/
- Ultra-violet and Blue Light Aggravate Macular Degeneration, https://www.macular.org/ultra-violet-and-blue-light
