Did you know that electronics can affect sleep of teens? The blue light radiated from gadgets can reprogram the brain to delay a good night’s rest. Electronics may take a toll on children to stay awake during the night and be lightheaded during the day.
Electronics has been linked with sleep problems in teens and are suffering from health problems such as obesity, sluggishness, and poor performance.
How can parents do about it?
Here is a guide for adults on how electronics can affect sleep of teens and some tips to ensure they get the rest they needed.
Teens and gadgets
Study shows that children in the Philippines are using their phones past bedtime. Recently, there has been a surged of mobile phone users among the young ones and this increases the number of Pinoys using their phones at the dead of the night.
The same study also reported that these teens snatch their phones first upon waking up, despite sleeping less than 6 hours a night.
Sleep researchers are concerned and parents should be too.
The teenage years are often the most crucial years in the formation of one’s individuality. It’s often the time they find hobbies, friends, and independence. They get to be with certain cliques and members of their school or organization, while struggling with homework.
Sleep is critical for teens to stay healthy, energized, motivated, and happy to do well in school, community, and family. But it’s not always easy, as this group tend to use gadgets more.
Electronics can affect sleep of teens as they used a lot of screen time every day. Their incessant usage of technology induces sleep problems such as insomnia, depression, gadget addiction, and fear of missing out (FOMO).
Often, their activities revolve around social media surfing, messaging, gaming, and watching videos, in addition to researching for homework and projects.
How electronics can affect sleep of teens
Ninety percent of teens in the Philippines use their gadgets to help them relax before sleeping. However, technology stimulates your brain as it rewires your brain to sleep late.
What’s more, it can adversely affect physiological and physical health that can lead to serious medical conditions.
Blue light decreases production of melatonin
Studies show that bright light delays production of melatonin, the hormone responsible for sleep. Scientists mentioned that there are certain light with the range of 460 – 480 NM that may disrupt sleep.
This light looks blue to the eyes and trigger alertness – and, gadgets emit blue light. Sleep researchers also mentioned that children happen to be sensitive to artificial light and its consequences.
Blue light delay melatonin production as electronics can affect sleep of teens.
Sounds or messaging can induce wakefulness
Sounds or messaging from phones can induce ‘wakefulness’ as it induces the brain to answer that call or text. Subconsciously, it forces the user the answer that call despite being at the dead of the night.
With that being said, it can make teens tense of waiting which wrecks the quality of sleep they have. It doesn’t help when kids nowadays use their phones as an alarm clock or simply to check the time upon waking up.
But that feeling of waiting with apprehension can disrupt a good sleep.
Media content keeps teens awake
Is it funny, scary, or plain entertaining? Media content often capture teens’ attention and gets them to stay awake for hours. It’s a major bedtime problem, adrenaline rush player, and a critical role in dreams and nightmares, too.
Funny and entertaining content can trigger a rush that leads to delay in sleep that night. Meanwhile, watching scary content can keep them awake or have nightmares, thus, reducing sleep quality.
How to lessen electronic use before bedtime
Let’s face it. All of us can’t live without phones near our beds. It has become a natural routine for us to have one final scroll on our social media accounts before bedtime. Likewise, it’ll be the first thing people grab in the morning. So, how to lessen electronic usage before bedtime?
Ask for blue light filter
If your teens can’t stop using mobile devices to bed, ask them to use blue light filters. They can download it on app stores available both in iOS and android devices. A blackout rule might be hard or harsh to follow, so, this might be a safer option. For desktops and laptops, there are physical screen films to lessen the light emitted from the computer.
Get them glasses
One option parents can do is buy their children UV eyeglasses to protect teens from the garish light of computer screens. So, even if your kid is up at 2AM to finish their thesis, you’re sure to know they’re safe from glaring too much from their gadgets.
Remove unnecessary gadgets from your teens’ room
For instance, why not have the television on your living room? Or create a separate game room for their Xbox and Playstation devices? By removing unnecessary gadgets in your child’s room, you lessen their screen time during the night.
Motivate them to stay active instead
Most teens rely on gadgets to kill the boredom. But, if you motivate your children to stay active and take up hobbies, it reduces their screen time with electronics. Talk to them about taking a sport, join a club, or volunteer in the community.
Block out technology if only you have to
This might be controversial to some families as teens use electronics for schoolwork, communication, and networking. However, if there’s no need for homework or projects, maybe you can block out electronics for say an hour or two. Only, if you have to!
