Most people’s lives revolve around a screen whether it’s from looking at a screen all day at work, or scrolling through social media on your phone, reading on an e-book, or playing a game, there are screens everywhere. Many studies have shown that using electronics and being exposed to screens and blue light before bed can interrupt your sleep and result in insomnia symptoms and also depression.
So How Do Electronics Affect Your Sleep?
When you’re feeling tired at the end of the day, your body naturally produces melatonin, otherwise known as the hormone that regulates your sleep cycle. When you expose yourself to too much light before bedtime, this confuses the production of melatonin because it thinks it’s not time for bed.
If you try to go to sleep after using your electronic devices an hour before bedtime, it’s likely you won’t fall asleep fast. Instead, you will experience insomnia symptoms that prevent you from falling asleep and staying asleep. This can lead to you waking up still feeling tired. Experts recommend limited screen time and to steer clear an hour to two hours before going to bed to get a restful night of sleep.
What Else Affects Restful Sleep?
If you limit your electronic use before bedtime and still find yourself waking up feeling tired, there might be another reason – sleep apnea. If you have sleep apnea and you’re not treating it, you are not sleeping restfully throughout the night.
Sleep apnea affects you in a few different ways. When you sleep at night and your airway collapses or becomes blocked, this prevents you from receiving enough oxygen to your brain. As a result, your brain tells you to cough or choke to catch your breath. This is known as sleep apnea. When you have sleep apnea, this process occurs over and over again throughout the night, preventing you from falling into a deep sleep.
When you wake repeatedly throughout the night, you’re not giving your body the rest it needs to reenergize. Not to mention, if snoring is part of your sleep apnea, which it often is, your snoring might also wake you or your partner up through the night. This means neither of you is sleeping well.
To allow yourself to get a better night of sleep, it’s important to find out if you have sleep apnea so you can treat it. We can recommend a physician or clinic to test you for sleep apnea. Please contact our dental office at (402) 493-4175 to learn more about our sleep apnea treatment and finally get a better night of sleep.
