There are a number of reasons why you need to have a tech-free bedroom. When you know what these reasons are, you will start to understand the benefits of no technology in your bedroom.
Light Is A Form Of Visual Caffeine
Most modern electronic devices will emit blue light which is known to suppress the production of melatonin in the body. Reading a magazine or paper book in bed will help your eyelids become heavy. However, scrolling around on your tablet, phone or computer will cause the opposite effect and will generally keep you up for longer.
This is due to the blue light that these devices will emit and the reaction of the melatonin production in the body. Melatonin is the sleep hormone that you need to get the best night’s rest you can. Using these devices will make you feel more awake and make it harder for you to sleep after you have put the device away.
The impact of this has been looked into by researchers who compare the quality of sleep that people got when reading on an electronic device compared to a paper book. The research found that the device users had less melatonin. They were also less sleepy at night, had a harder time falling asleep, suffered from shorter REM cycles and were generally more tired the next day.
Bringing Stress From Work To Bed
Technology is known to make it a lot easier for us to take on work-related tasks anytime, anywhere. There are many times when you will have to check for an email or update your social media or finish the last bits of a project after you get home at night. However, when you bring all of this into your bedroom, you will be in trouble and very awake.
A survey of around 2000 workers found that one of the most stressful habits they had was checking email late at night. When you get an email from your boss at 11 pm, your brain will switch to work mode. Worse than this, that email will often cause you to stress. Either of these results will cause you to have a problem going to sleep.
The solution will be to pick a time long before you go to bed to do a final email check. You should also leave your devices outside of your bedroom. If you have your device with you, you could feel tempted to check your email even when the push notifications are off. The temptation can be completely removed when you do not have a device with you.
Devices Create A Constant Case Of FOMO
When you scroll through social media, you will feel a case of FOMO coming. If you manage to keep all of your work-related tasks off your devices at night, you still run the risk of sleep-depriving stress from your social life.
While these feelings will not produce the same level of urgency as work-related ones, they do disrupt your sleep. A lot of people know that all of the things you see on social media is artfully curated, carefully planned and represents real life very poorly. This does not stop the anxious and depressing feelings when you see selfies from your friends in a bar across the country or the sun salutation that your yoga teacher is dong on a sun-washed beach. The feelings that these images provoke are not needed before you go to sleep.
Devices Make You Stay Up Later
If you are one of the very few people who are unaffected by blue light when you go to sleep, you are not completely safe from the problems with devices. Neither are people who have a great ability when it comes to separating their work and home life or feel completely secure in who they are and what they have. Even if you only feel joy for others when you are scrolling through your social feeds.
The issue is that even those you are 100% sure that their devices are not affecting their ability to fall asleep are still affected. This is due to the fact that you are wasting your time on the internet instead of going to sleep. Sleep procrastination is a real thing and a lot of people suffer from this. Most people are actually guilty of this and it will impact the quality and quantity of sleep.
If you are realistic, you know that putting your device on the nightstand to read, listen to music or cuddle with your pet can only go so far. Eventually, you are going to be reaching for your device to start scrolling through social media or check your emails. The only way to avoid this completely will be to keep your technology out of your room. This will feel strange at first, but after a few nights, you will find that you wake up refreshed and energized.
Eliminate all of these and enjoy better quality sleep on your Bensons for Beds mattress.
