How Electronics are Killing Our Sleep

In a recent study done by the National Sleep Foundation (ya that’s a thing, I’m surprised too) the results suggest that widespread electronics use is the reason why people are sleeping less than ever before.
              Just how much is less than ever before you ask? Well 1 in 3 adults gets less than 7 hours of sleep at night and 38% say that they often fall asleep unintentionally during the day. For those of you reading this that aren’t familiar with typical human sleep patterns (see that’s ironic because this is an electronic blog so I’m making the inference that you probably have a-typical sleep patterns because you read this) a typical adult needs around 8 hours of consistent sleep to be fully functional.

                So why do researchers believe electronics are the culprit behind this pandemic of poor sleep? Well the study goes on to find that 95% of people use some sort of electronic device (like TV, Computer, smartphone) just before they fall asleep. This is startling because they found a direct trend that suggested “people who text before bed are less likely to get a good night’s sleep, more likely to wake up tired, and more likely to drive drowsy.” But there’s more! 75% of test subjects said their sleepiness affected their work performance. So the effects are obvious, if you don’t sleep you’re more likely to get in a car crash, fall asleep at work, and be less enthusiastic about the day!

                Now some of you are saying “HEY! this sounds a lot like me! But you know what else? I also wake up in the middle of the night ALL the time!” Well guess what overly-intrigued reader, 64% of subjects had that same problem!  In my personal opinion though, that number is way too high to be caused simply by the electronic usage. But nevertheless, reducing your electronic usage in the hours before you sleep would certainly help that habit.  
               Author of the survey, Charles A. Czeisler, M.D. agrees. "Electronics are making it very enticing to stay up later,”… "You have 500 cable channels, 24/7 entertainment and technologies, video gaming available around the clock. How bad something is for you depends on the extent to which it is captivating you and tempting you not to sleep." It’s like the world around you never falls asleep, so you don’t want to. In the good ole’ days a farmer had no idea what his neighbor was doing, or any sense of time outside of his own little world. He had no reason to stay up to 3 am! But now, nothing ever turns off. The internet is exactly the same at 2:45 am as it is at 4pm. People never want to feel like they’ve missed out, and with the interconnectedness of our world today, it’s impossible not to be aware of everything you miss out on by going to sleep.

                The only logical way I see to combat this sleep apnea epidemic, is to just take an hour before you sleep to read a book or lie down and unwind. If your mind is always on the world around you then you can never just let yourself fall asleep.

 1.http://www.wate.com/story/26365659/pediatricians-say-later-school-start-times-may-help-students-succeed
 2. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/sleep-deprivation-the-surprising-causes-and-solutions/