This is why you should Cut off Screen time 1 hour before bed (Interesting " How to" suggestions included )
The covid - 19 corona virus pandemic has allowed me to experiment a lot of things and ones among that is this healthy habit of switching OFF my smartphone one hour before bed. This has a lot to do with productivity as it is related to sleep and circadian rhythm. This article covers Whats,Whys and Hows of using your smartphone in a healthier manner to attain better mental health which in turn leads you to be more productive.
If you are somewhere around the age below 22 or basically a kid or an adolescent of the smartphone generation,there is a high chance that you are being deprived from a good quality sleep.
Who knows,you might be reading this when you are supposed to be sleeping.Having a proper sleep can give you so much of mental health benefits.
To be more brutally honest with you,having the proper sleep you deserve can make you feel a lot better and make you live better and make you realize how much of liveliness in your life is being taken away from you by taking away your quality sleep.
You can't realize that until you feel it for a week.I'll give you suggestions on how you can achieve that good quality sleep at the end of the article.
But don't scroll past all the valuable info in the middle as you must be clear about WHY you need to do something in order to make the most benefit out of a good and much needed practice.
If you are somewhere around the age below 22 or basically a kid or an adolescent of the smartphone generation,there is a high chance that you are being deprived from a good quality sleep.
Who knows,you might be reading this when you are supposed to be sleeping.Having a proper sleep can give you so much of mental health benefits.
To be more brutally honest with you,having the proper sleep you deserve can make you feel a lot better and make you live better and make you realize how much of liveliness in your life is being taken away from you by taking away your quality sleep.
You can't realize that until you feel it for a week.I'll give you suggestions on how you can achieve that good quality sleep at the end of the article.
But don't scroll past all the valuable info in the middle as you must be clear about WHY you need to do something in order to make the most benefit out of a good and much needed practice.
A recent study says..
Wait...Seriously ? did you even expect me to show proof and numbers and percentage of people living in so and so region suffer so and so problems ? You came here cause you felt you needed it because you have experienced it.I speak here out of my experience and feel I need not back my article with recent studies and honestly I don't want to scare or shock you by sharing them and..Who cares ? Do you? I don't think so a global problem like this needs such proof. But you can do your research if you want to.Let us talk straight facts here.
Our unhealthy night routine.
Almost 80 to 90 percent of the teens and young adults sleep with their mobile phones nearby after binge watching Netflix or scrolling mindlessly through social media or even watching .. you know what I meant. If you didn't it is something not worth your attention.
We think we are relaxing our mind by the dopamine release we get on social media or that entertainment or whatsoever you do and howsoever you justify it.But what you are unconsciously compromising on by lack of quality sleep can have physiological and psychological impacts on your everyday life and not make you get most out of it.
Psychological okay..Even Physiological ??
Yep.The first thing that can probably strike an individual's mind with the effect of these smartphones is something like anxiety or depression.But it even leads to obesity.So if you had been constantly working out to lose stubborn belly fat and didn't see results ? re-consider your sleeping habits.
Obesity, workout and sleep.
If you think the way I do, you might have not considered that seriously.But here's the clarification i got and probably the one you'd need.
Sleeping less or in a non healthy way has it's impact on the brain which in turn has it's impact on the nervous system which affect hormone secretion levels.
Your food intake depends upon two hormones. ghrelin and leptin.ghlerin is the hormone that promotes hunger and leptin is a hormone that gives satiety signals.
ghrelin increases with sleep restriction, whereas leptin, decreases. This leads to obesity.
Psychology of it.
Using smartphones and any other electronic device like tablet,TV or laptop before bed delays your body’s internal clock.This in turn suppresses the release of the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin, and makes it harder to fall asleep.
This is largely due to the short-wavelength, artificial blue light that’s emitted by the digital screens that are used in these devices. The more electronic devices that a person uses in the evening, the harder it is to fall asleep or stay asleep.
Besides increasing your alertness at a time when you should be getting sleepy, which in turn delays your bedtime, using these devices before turning in delays the onset of REM sleep, reduces the total amount of REM sleep, and compromises alertness the next morning.
Over time, these effects can add up to a significant, chronic deficiency in sleep.
How to achieve one hour of off screen time before bed ?
You can come up with lot more creative ways or use these two which I have tried personally.
Digital curfew.
Switch off all electronic devices and have a tech free late evening with your family after dinner.The very next place you'd all go to should be the bed.This can be a lot beneficial as spending time with family is something essential and technology has deprived us from it.
Casual talks or even board games can help do this.
Read a book.
I started to dedicate a minimum of half an hour to reading books before bed and I'd write my diary before bed.This helps me sleep faster.