Sleep Disruptions Caused by Technology:

Technology has many harmful effects, one of which being the strain it causes on the sleep cycle. The use of technology before bed seriously disrupts your ability to fall and stay asleep. As someone with insomnia myself, I understand the harmful impacts that scrolling through my phone before trying to sleep can cause. The artificial blue light that comes off of your phone screen actually messes with your body’s circadian rhythm, making it hard to naturally get tired and fall asleep. We rely on our body’s internal clock to help us wind down at night and sleep peacefully, when we disturb our clock with artificial light and increase our brain activity by scrolling online, it’s no wonder so many people nowadays suffer from sleep disorders.

I have a few solutions to combat this issue. First solution would be to of course not use your phone a few hours before bed. It is proven that putting the phone away well before you go to bed is extremely beneficial to your health. Alternative activities before bed would be to read a book, do some stretches or yoga, or my personal favorite, take a hot shower and do some lengthy self care before bed.

The other solution I have in mind would be to create an interactive phone screen that you can control with an app on your phone. Within the app, you control all of the settings and modifications you would like to implement on your device. These modifications would be specifically for helping you wind down for the night. Prior to bedtime, you set the time you would like to be asleep to the time you want to wake up in the morning. Using this information, the phone screen will gradually get darker and darker and harder to see over the course of the 3 hours before you plan on being asleep. Exactly 3 hours before bedtime, your phone screen will emit an orange hued light opposed to the blue light it usually emits. After the first hour, the phone screen will be dimmed and significantly dimmed, making it a challenge to see what is on your phone. The first hour will be used to get all your last minute texts and other things you need to get done before settling down for the night. By the second hour, it becomes near impossible to see anything on your screen, pushing you to get off of your device and partake in other nighttime activities. I think that a device accessory like this will push people to develop a healthier nighttime schedule, and will improve many people’s sleep issues.