"Electronic affect our ability to fall asleep."
One of the biggest myths related to sleep is that electronic devices affect our ability to fall asleep, specifically blue light (the colour of light that electronic devices emit the most). However, this is not true. At least not in the way they sell the information.
As I just mentioned, the way this information is being sold is not entirely correct. Therefore, below I want to present to you what the scientific evidence tells us about the effects of blue light in our sleep so that you can get an informed idea of the subject.
Let's start by knowing where this myth comes from. In the 90s and early 2000s, several studies were published on the effects of exposure to bright lights on our biological clock, finding that bright lights delay people's biological clock, which means that people fall asleep later and later every time. Hence, people began to say that blue light - and therefore electronic devices - makes it difficult for us to sleep.
While this conclusion is not entirely far-fetched, it is completely false. A 2014 study by Dr. Michael Gradisar found no adverse effects on falling asleep after using iPads at full brightness just before sleeping. Additionally, Dr. Gradisar began the task of reviewing studies that have evaluated the impact of light emitted by electronics on sleep latency (the time it takes to fall asleep), finding that when one is exposed to these electronic devices before sleeping, sleep latency increases by 1.34 minutes, almost nothing in terms of time [1].
Contrary to all that is said about the effects of blue light, these results are explained because the rays of electronic devices are NOT bright enough to cause problems when it comes to falling asleep. This is the key to such a claim being false. It must be taken into account that the studies that have evaluated the effects of exposure to light in our sleep have used lights with a much more intense brightness than what electronic devices can emit.
Therefore, we can say that our ability to fall asleep is NOT affected by electronic devices once we decide to sleep. Here's another key! ... This does not mean that electronic devices do not distract us from sleeping; however, once we choose to turn off the light with the intention of sleeping, we won't take more time than usual.
Now, the fact that our ability to fall asleep is not affected does not mean that electronics do not affect sleep. For example, several studies have found that using electronic devices in the afternoon for 1.5 hours or more reduces melatonin production (sleep hormone) at the beginning of the night. In addition, a recent study in 2015 found that the constant use of electronic devices at night begins to slow down our biological clock after five days of service [2]. Unfortunately, although these results are exciting and promising, there are not enough studies to draw solid conclusions or understand these long-term effects.
In conclusion, the use of electronic devices before sleep does not affect our ability to fall asleep. Still, it can slow delay our biological clock when we use them for prolonged periods, frequently. The latter, in my opinion, is problematic since while we can easily play with our bedtime, we can rarely do so with the start of our workdays and daytime obligations.
What do you think about this? Let me know in the comments below!
Sweet dreams!
Notes
This article was inspired by a series of articles written by Dr. Michael Gradisar on his blog at https://winksleep.online. If you want to know more about the subject, I recommend you check out his blog.
Referencias
[1] - Gradisar, M. (2021). BLUE SCREENLIGHT IS THE NUMBER 1 SLEEP MYTH OF OUR TIME - PART 1. Recuperado de https://winksleep.online/blog/65-blue-screenlight-making-it-harder-to-fall-asleep-is-the-number-1-sleep-myth-of-our-time
[2] - Gradisar, M. (2021). BLUE SCREENLIGHT: DOES IT AFFECT MELATONIN? - PART 2. Recuperado de https://winksleep.online/blog/66-blue-screenlight-does-it-affect-melatonin-part-2