Not Sleeping, Blame Technology

Not getting enough sleep? You might want to blame technology.

Happy National Sleep Awareness week. You probably know as well as anyone that we simply aren’t getting enough sleep. Part of the reason could be our computers, TVs and smartphones.

A recent survey found that 1 out of 3 of us get less than 7 hours of sleep per night. Since the recommended range is around 8 hours, that means plenty of us are nodding off during the day, having trouble concentrating on what we are doing and even having trouble driving. Another survey found that 95% of us also use some type of technology right before going to bed. This includes getting on the computer, watching TV, texting or talking on our smartphones.

The problem is that all this technology comes with bright screens that flood our eyes and brain with light right before we want to nod off. And since our bodies are made to nod off when it gets dark and wake up with the light it gets our body confused as to what it’s supposed to do.

So, your best bet is to save that last hour before bedtime for some quite, low light time. That’ll get you as ready as possible for some good shuteye.