Sleep and Smartphones

“Do you sleep with your smartphone beside you?”

“Do you have your smartphone on the nightstand while sleeping?”

“Do you use your smartphone as your alarm clock?”

If you answer the above questions in the affirmative then, continue to read on. And for those

of you that are not guilty of the above, continue reading for the sake of your friends and loved

ones who you’ve pronounced as being guilty.

Did you know that there is a positive correlation between mobile phone usage and sleep

disorder and deprivation? And the correlation between sleep deprivation and health disorders

has been well documented.

The adoption and use of these electronic devices has been rapid and widespread ever since

the advent of the smartphone in 2007. As of 2015, approximately 64% of all American adults

owned a smartphone, including 85% of those aged 18 to 29. In India, the number of

smartphone users is estimated to reach 299.24 million for 2017, which is approximately 25%

of the total population in the country. The number of smartphone users worldwide forecast to

exceed 2.3 billion users by that time.

From its conception, the mobile phone has evolved constantly and today it’s become more

than a simple device for communication, transforming into personal assistants, entertainment

devices and information gateways. However, using such electronic devices inappropriately

(not wisely!) can wreak havoc in somebody’s life, which includes physical and medical

complications. The mobile phone is increasingly integrated into our everyday lives, and the

earlier it is introduced to the teens, the more likely the electronic device is bound to interrupt

blissful slumber. The use of smartphones near bed time is associated with difficulty sleeping.
Even if people can't sleep for some completely unrelated reason, there is a tendency to use

their smartphone just because they can't sleep.

A team of researchers led by Dr. Gregory Marcus an associate professor of medicine at the

University of California, San Francisco, conducted a study and found remarked, "When we

looked at smartphone use around the time when participants reported they went to bed, more

smartphone use around that time in particular was associated with a longer time to fall asleep

and worse sleep quality during the night".

Smartphones and other such electronic devices disrupt sleep, in part, because they emit what's

known as "blue" light. This “blue” light emitted by smartphones is picked up by special cells

behind our eyeballs, and it communicates to the brain that it's morning and suppress our

body's production of melatonin, a hormone that induces tiredness and helps with sleep timing.

A number of studies have been replicated to show the harmful effects of “blue” light. One

way of reducing our exposure to blue light is by avoiding the use of electronic devices and

gadgets close to bedtime.

One study has shown that over the last couple of years the rate of smartphone ownership

amongst adolescents have risen dramatically. There is also a causal relationship between

owning a smartphone with addictive usage behaviours and sleep disorders.

Now, what happens to our body when we do not get sufficient sleep?

Dr. Neil Kline, a sleep physician, internist and representative of the American Sleep

Association, believes that sleep is a restorative process and a basic biologic need. "When

animals, including humans, are deprived of sleep, there are many body systems that fail. Not

only does our performance, memory and attention span suffer, our immune system and

endocrine system is also impaired.", said Dr Kline.

Sleep is vital for healthy physical, mental and emotional processing. When we are sleep

deprived, our bodies struggle to perform to their full potential and, as a consequence, there

will be hindrances in our next-day physical and mental performance. There will also be an

imbalances in hormone activity. Human Growth Hormone, for example, peaks during sleep

meaning that insufficient sleep may affect growth and cell-repair throughout the body. Lack

of sleep, in addition to growth, will also affect the metabolism of a person. Chronic sleep

deprivation is said to be associated with the development of illness, notably cardiovascular

disease, diabetes, hypertension and certain types of cancers.

The most well-known experiment on total sleep deprivation involved a teenager called Randy

Gardner, who managed to maintain wakefulness for 11 days. During this period, he

experienced problems with his working memory, speech and eventually hallucinations. Sleep

deprivation significantly impairs the ability to learn and results in short-term memory loss.

Therefore, Sleep is something that all human beings can’t live without and is vital for normal

growth and functioning.

Switch it off and Sleep! And of course, no sleeping in classrooms!

Reference:

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Christensen, M. A., Bettencourt, L., Kaye, L., Moturu, S. T., Nguyen, K. T., Olgin, J. E., ... &

Marcus, G. M. (2016). Direct Measurements of Smartphone Screen-Time: Relationships with

Demographics and Sleep. PloS one, 11(11), e0165331.

Fullwood, C., Quinn, S., Kaye, L. K., & Redding, C. (2017). My Virtual friend: A qualitative

analysis of the attitudes and experiences of Smartphone users: Implications for Smartphone

attachment. Computers in Human Behavior.

Lee, U., Lee, J., Ko, M., Lee, C., Kim, Y., Yang, S., ... & Song, J. (2014, April). Hooked on

smartphones: an exploratory study on smartphone overuse among college students.

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Kyle, S. D., Espie, C. A., & Morgan, K. (2010). “… Not just a minor thing, it is something

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