Your Kindle Fire Could be Lighting a Fire in Your Tired Brain

A lot of recent public inquiry has come up about technology's effects on our sleep habits, but as the presence of devices like smartphones, ereaders, and tablets increases, there will need to be more research on the effects of using such devices so often -- as we all do -- yes you, admit it!  I bet you are reading this blog on your smartphone, and maybe you are even about to hit the sack.

 

The article "eReaders" by Charles S Czeisler, compares book reading to the use of an ereader as it relates to sleep habits.  Six healthy young women participated in the study; each given a condition of dim light for reading -- half of the participants using ereaders while others read print books, each group reading her part about 4 hours before bedtime, for 5 consecutive nights.  Sleep onset latency was increased by roughly 10 minutes in the ereader group -- even though TST (total sleep time) remained the same in both groups.  The other notable difference was a lack of REM sleep in the ereader group, although nonREM sleep and sleep efficiency remained relatively stable.  Does that mean that ereaders prevent you from dreaming (per dreams typically occurring during REM sleep, paper by Dement in 1057)?  I am always entertained and intrigued by my dreams so it looks like I will just have to keep reading my old fashion print books!

 

I do not have a Kindle or other ereader and generally do not read on my tablet or smartphone unless it is a quick and relevant-to-me article that a friend has shared on social media.  If anything, I largely read email (brief reading exposure).  I also am not an avid reader, period, so I do not have a lot of experience to draw from regarding the naturalistic observation of my own sleep habits and patterns when it comes to reading before bed (i.e. tablet versus book).  I try to do academic reading during the day.  That being said, I still get on Facebook/ snapchat or other “apps” at night when I go to bed – and I can say that I have in fact noticed an increase in my alertness when laying in bed on my phone (for more than usually about 10 minutes).  Last night I went to bed around my average bedtime (12-1 am), but after about 5-10 minutes of scrolling through my newsfeed on Facebook, I noticed an increase in my attention level to the content I was seeing.  I decided to turn my phone off and try to sleep – I did, but didn’t feel as tired as when I first got into bed, weird!

 

Today I took the first nap I have taken this semester, but also had lacrosse practice.  So when I go to bed, and allow myself a few minutes on my phone, I will see how factors such as physical fatigue and prior sleep today affects my sleep onset latency.  Aside from me, I know many people my age “play” on their phones for extended time before sleep, a habit that it is surely detrimental to sleep onset, quality, and efficiency.  I would like to see more research in this area with young people so that they can be properly educated about the detrimental effects of their myriad devices on sleep health.