We've written about this one before, this time were going to give you helpful tools which can help you on your way.
We all by now should know that, the artificial blue light emitted by TV's, phones, tablets and laptops is extremely damaging to our sleep. Without getting too technical, the blue light causes a reduction in major sleep hormones which allow your body to both fall asleep and have a restful sleep - its that simple. Why? Because your brain thinks this blue light is from the sun, and that's one of the major ways it knows when to be awake and when to sleep. So at night if your exposed to blue light guess what? Your brain thinks its daytime, not time to sleep!
So what can you do about it? I'd love to tell you to stop using these devices and read a book in a poorly lit room every evening to give yourself the best chance for sleep. But, I know very few of you can and will stick to that. So what can you do? Are you doomed? Not quite, there's a couple of things we can do.
1. Keep your house as dark as you can in the evenings, you want as little bright light as possible.
2. Stop scrolling on your phone (facebook, instagram, youtube). You don't need them as much as they need you!
3. IF you do NEED to scroll on these apps, use your phones blue light filter or eye comfort mode (you'll find these within the settings on your phone, can't find it? Google it). It's not perfect, but it definitely reduces it. Your tablets and laptops also have the same functions too.
3. You NEED to watch TV in the evenings? Ok, I do get it, there are some descent shows knocking around. You may want to invest in some 'Blue Light Blocking Glasses'. They look like normal glasses but stop a large percentage of the blue light from being absorbed into the eye. We sell them HERE, or you may want to get a more trendy pair from elsewhere.
4. Watch TV in bed? C'mon, that is really going to disrupt your sleep. If your partner watches TV in bed and you want to sleep, get some eye masks so the blue light doesn't make its way into your eyes. Think about it, a TV's blue light beaming through your eye lids, how confusing for your brain!
The blue light and overall bright lights are a direct and huge threat to your sleep, keep that in mind and you will be able to incorporate a slightly different bedtime routine. This should be done 1-3 hours before bed.
If you have any direct questions please email us at info@sleepalpha.co.uk and we'll help with your query.