One Habit That is Ruining Your Sleep and How to Fix it

Getting good sleep is highly essential for your physical and mental well-being. Lack of a good sleep has been linked with increased risk of diabetes, depression and cardio vascular conditions. With more and more unhealthy habits added to our daily routines as a result of changing lifestyle, getting sound sleep has become a difficult task in itself. The root cause to most of sleep related problems in modern day can be traced back to a single source which is the high amount of blue-light we are being exposed to during night, especially from smartphones and other gadgets.

Every night we spend hours staring at the blue-light emitted by the gadgets we hold dear to us. And many of us even sleep with our smartphones on bed, constantly checking Facebook feeds or Instagram notifications till we fall asleep. Here is how it is adversely affecting your health and what we can we do about it.

The Circadian Rhythm
The Circadian rhythm is the natural biological clock that controls our sleep pattern. On a closer look we find that the circadian rhythm not only controls the sleep but also the individual clocks that dictate the functions of other organs. Our Circadian Rhythm is generally 24 hours and any disruption in the biological clock can have long term health consequences. So, when we lose regular sleep, this circadian rhythm is badly affected.

Melatonin
Melatonin is a regulatory hormone secreted by the pituitary gland. It helps regulate other hormones and maintains the body's circadian rhythm. When it is dark, your body produces more melatonin. In light, the production of melatonin drops. Researchers also believe that melatonin levels may be related to aging, as young children have the highest levels of night time melatonin. It is also assumed that these levels decrease as we age and lower levels of melatonin may explain why some older adults have sleep problems. Lower melatonin level is also associated with breast cancer risk in women and prostate cancer in men.

Blue-light and its effects
It is believed that white light suppresses the secretion of melatonin. Today, we are highly exposed to white lights during the night and it is something we cannot escape from. A study by University of Toronto found that the blue-light fraction within white light suppresses the production of melatonin. Another study by neuroscientist George Brainard on 'light and melatonin production' found that humans display peak sensitivity to light in blue wave length. The lights in your devices such as smartphones and tablet are of short wave length, which means higher concentration of blue-light.

A study was conducted by Anne Marie Chang of Harvard on the difference of quality of sleep between people who read books on their 'light emitting devices' and the ones who read on real printed books. The study concluded that people who read on light emitting devices had a terrible quality of sleep and they took longer to sleep and wake up as well.

The blue-lights from 'light emitting devices' suppresses the melatonin secretion, which then makes your circadian rhythm and body to assume that you are in the middle of day instead of night. This results in a poor sleep quality and triggers long term health problems.

5 Simple Solutions

Here are 5 simple solutions to get better sleep:
1. Avoid looking at bright screens 2-3 hours before bed time.
2. Expose yourself to lot of bright day light during the day.
3. If you are a night owl or work in night shifts, do consider using a blue-light blocking glass while using your computers or phones for long hours.
4. Use dark themes on your reading apps.
5. Use apps like f.lux that changes the colour of your computer's display according to the time of day.