It seems as though there are never enough hours in a day. Chances are, your waking activities and daytime responsibilities have a tendency to bleed into your sleep time. At this point in the semester, mine certainly are!
Do you check your e-mail or play around on your smart phone or tablet before bed? Are you up late working at the computer? A new study by the National Sleep Foundation (NSF) sheds new light on why this can be a bad thing.
Besides cutting into your sleep time, the use of these devices before bed time can actually "increase alertness and suppress the release of the sleep-promoting hormone melatonin," according to the NSF as reported on prdaily.com. The disruption is caused by exposure to the bright artificial light of the screen before bed, the NSF said.
Moral of the story? Giving yourself a break in between using the computer, TV or your smart phone and going to bed can have a positive impact on your quality of sleep. If you're like me, you need all the sleep you can get!
This brings up such a great point. I have noticed that especially with the added stress of the end of the semester that my sleeping isn't that great. It takes longer for me to fall asleep, and i do check my comp and phone before i go to sleep. I never knew that it could affect my sleeping habits and its definitely something that i wont do before going to bed.
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