It’s a familiar scenario nowadays. You get to bed right after you finish checking your e-mail, sending off one last text, or fall asleep watching your favorite TV show, but it shouldn’t surprise anyone that these kinds of activities so close to bedtime are not healthy. No matter how much you try to fight it, as a human you are diurnal (active during the day, a sleeper during the night) by nature. In the old days, you didn’t have to worry about getting enough sleep. You would wake up with the sun as it lit your way during the day and turn in at night once it was dark. But with the advent of electricity, humans were able to artificially extend their waking hours. This isn't necessarily a bad thing but it does have the potential to become bad depending on how often you use electronics.
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Ever hear of a situation where someone claims they’re “too excited” to sleep? Well, to prepare for a night of rest, your body must be relaxed physically and mentally. However, using electronic devices around bedtime can overstimulate your body and brain. When you’re invested in an exciting show or a heart-pounding video game, your body responds to this stimulation by tensing your muscles and increasing production of stress hormones like cortisol. Additionally, this kind of stimulation can also really get the wheels in your brain turning, causing a further increase of your stress levels.
The effects of overstimulation are especially strong when it comes to electronics that produce a bright light. In order to fall asleep, your brain needs to produce a sleep-inducing chemical known as melatonin. When you use items like smartphones, iPods or iPads however, the light they produce imitates sunlight, tricking your brain into thinking it’s still daytime. Your brain then responds by limiting production of melatonin, keeping you awake longer. With physical and mental stimulation at these highs, it becomes much harder to relax and the harder it is for you to relax, the more likely you’ll have trouble getting to and staying asleep.
Overall, electronics are both a blessing and a curse. They can be immensely helpful when the need for them arises but a detriment when they interfere with your body’s natural functions. There is a reason, after all, why being overstimulated is also known as being “wired”.
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