The downside of a backlit phone screen
TStudies recommend turning off all electronic devices at least one hour before sleep
HREE years ago, I wrote a column extolling the virtues of a few drops of lavender oil on the pillow when it came to ensuring a deep, if not hallucinogenic, sleep.
Well, that worked pretty well for me for a while but this past year I reckon I could have drenched my entire bed, including my husband, in it and it wouldn’t have helped.
Now I know they say as you get older it’s harder to get to sleep – something to do with the body producing less melatonin, meaning we get more fragmented sleep and wake up more during the night. Harder, that is, unless it’s the final episode of Line of Duty or Strictly or whatever you’ve been so looking forward to and the next thing you know you’re woken up, hair on end, and told: “Blimey what a racket you’ve been making!” Now I know I am not the only one among my circle of friends who is familiar with what I call ‘the 3 o’clock club’. Either waking up at that time, or even worse not dropping off until then. I can get into bed at 10 already dozy and manage a few pages of my book before dropping off. My husband usually comes to bed later and finds me propped up on several pillows, sleep mask on my forehead, snorting like a good ’un, and to be honest often dribbling, apparently deep in the land of Nod, only for me to burst into wakefulness minutes later.
So out comes the book again and again, within minutes, I’m gone... only to fall off that pavement or drop off that cliff, and this can be repeated for several hours. I’ve tried the hot shower before bedtime, the chamomile tea and black-out blinds. I’ve tried the deep belly breathing and even got up, as so many of the experts advise, and tried to find something boring to do, or made another cup of chamomile tea, although that opens a whole new can of worms!
I’ve stopped worrying about getting eight hours, as apparently the eight-hour idea is relatively new. In pre-industrial times, it was common to go to bed a few hours after dusk, then wake up and be active – anything from chatting with neighbours to studying, to having sex – and then go back to bed for a second sleep. Shame I don’t have neighbours!
But now I reckon I have cracked it! This past year I have had a new allsinging, all-dancing phone, which at last enables me to get messages in various forms my friends think I need to keep in contact with them. I admit, like some adolescent melded to their phone, I have had it next to me all evening, unable to resist checking it for messages, or looking at Facebook, or just looking up the name of an actor appearing on the screen who I can’t remember.
Also, as my old Kindle gave up the ghost earlier this year, I’ve been reading my books on this phone and I reckon this is where the problem lies.
My old Kindle wasn’t backlit, so I needed a lamp on. This phone has a brightly-lit screen and studies show two or more hours of screen time in the evening can seriously disrupt the melatonin surge needed to fall sleep, and recommend turning off all electronic devices at least one hour before sleep, at a minimum. I knew this... why didn’t I listen?
Well, it’s looking good but it’s early days yet. BUT I reckon with any luck, the 3 o’clock club Christmas party will be cancelled.