Urgent work call or mail? Switch on the lights first! WELLNESS
Using mobile phones or watching television in a dark bedroom just ahead of bedtime can sabotage your sleep more as compared to when they are used in a well-lit room, says researchers.
“While previous research has shown a link between screen use and the quality and length of young people’s sleep, ours is the first study to show how room lighting can further influence this,” said lead author Michael Mireku from the University of Lincoln, UK.
Insufficient sleep is associated with impaired immune responses, depression, anxiety and obesity in children and adolescents.
The study was published in the journal Environment International. The research team collected data from 6,616 adolescents aged 11 and 12 and more than 70% reported using at least one screen-based device use within an hour of bedtime. They were asked to self-report a range of factors, including their device use in both lit and darkened rooms, their weekday and weekend bedtimes, how difficult they found it to go to sleep and their wake up times.
The results showed those who used a phone or watched television in a dark room were 147% more likely to get less sleep than those who did not use a screen-based device.
THE STUDY FOUND NIGHT-TIME USE OF PHONES, TABLETS AND LAPTOPS IS ASSOCIATED WITH POOR SLEEP QUALITY, INSUFFICIENT SLEEP AND POOR PERCEIVED QUALITY OF LIFE.