There's something about warm pajamas that makes me want to scroll through Instagram. Even if it's late and I have work the next day, I'm never too tired to check up on my favorite personal trainers, poets, and, let's be real, the Kardashian-Jenners (the life of two-year-old Stormi Webster is one that I follow quite closely). But, here's some bad news: The blue light emitted by phone and computer screens can have a negative effect on your slumber because it suppresses the production of melatonin, a hormone that regulates sleep.
Alon Avidan, MD, MPH, director of the UCLA Sleep Disorders Center, told POPSUGAR in a previous interview, "We find that a lot of people bring electronics into the bedroom and have the cellphone and all kinds of electronic devices that emit light, which tends to disrupt the sleep and wake cycle." To combat this, the National Sleep Foundation recommends turning off all devices an hour before bed, according to the Harvard Business Review. So, for six days, I decided to give it a try in the name of journalism. This meant that, no, I couldn't watch my beloved Vampire Diaries, browse trending Twitter news, or say hi to my girl Stormi. I went into it a skeptic but came out on the other side a believer.
A Whole Lot of Reading and a Whole Lot of Calm
I'm a commuter. By the time I get home from work, I have so much I want to do (work out, eat dinner, shower, cuddle with my cat, watch Vampire Diaries) that in order to do it all, I need to stay awake past midnight. So, my hour-before-bed technology cut-off ended up being 11 p.m. on work nights. I made some adjustments to my routine. For one, I shortened calls with my family so they wouldn't run late. I also set up a daily reminder in my phone (of all things) to put it away, and I made sure I had a notebook and pen by my bed to write down what I was feeling (which turned into scribbles the heavier my eyes grew).
So, what happened when the "Stop using your phone!!!" message popped onto my screen at 11 p.m.? I did what I'm ashamed to say I haven't done in months: I read. There was an urgency in my fingers that drove me crazy at first — they needed to be doing something besides hold the hardcover spine of a book — but each day that I read Alanna Okun's The Curse of the Boyfriend Sweater: Essays on Crafting in place of internet scrolling, it got easier to ignore the urge to look up the author's Twitter handle and check my alarm for the 20th time (social media could wait and my alarm was set).
Even after just one day, I noticed that I slept better, meaning I didn't get up as much during the night. I also seemed to melt into sleep as opposed to feeling wired, waiting anxiously for it. Reading at night with zero distractions somehow made sleep rush over me like waves. Normally it's something I have to chase after; it almost never comes to me so swiftly.
Weekend Time Out
I couldn't do it over the weekend. I just couldn't pull myself away from Vampire Diaries. I felt restlessly wired by the end of my binge-watching, and I grew frustrated with how hard it was to completely fall asleep once I managed to tear myself away from the vampires. That being said, I'm glad I faltered. I was able to contrast these nights, when I stayed up until 2 a.m. with Elena Gilbert and the Salvatore brotRead More – Source
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