Technology - the silent sleep depriver

As a mother, ‘SLEEP’ is a very common topic in my inner circle. I talk about it at any time to just about anyone who is willing to listen. It’s not just the topic of my own lack of sleep, but also the topic on getting my child to sleep and the process of forming healthy sleeping patterns.

The most valuable lesson I have learned so far is that in order for my child to get a good night’s sleep, there needs to be a pattern, repeated over and over again each night. She should feel comforted, nurtured and extremely tired from a day filled with entertaining activities.

For me to get to sleep it can be a little more difficult. It is not appropriate to have a blanky or a stuffed rabbit behind my back, or to repeat the same pattern at the same time every day. I also had to teach my body to go back to sleep numerous times during the night. For me, there was one miracle worker: my mobile phone.

During the early months after my daughter was born I played games in order to go back to sleep. These days I just browse through my Facebook profile. It helps me to ease my mind and then I fall asleep rather easily. If my phone battery dies at night, I’m at a loss - It is absolutely necessary to have my phone next to me 24/7. I cannot survive one night without it.

As a result however, I struggle to go to sleep without it and my eyesight has decreased in such a way that I’m now wearing prescription glasses. The question is: Should I be changing the way I think about sleep?

The 2011 Sleep in America Poll® Communications Technology in the Bedroom by the National Sleep Foundation suggests the cause of sleep deprivation is the widespread use of electronics at night.

Here is a short summary of some of their findings:

• Roughly 95% of people use some form of electronics in the hour before bedtime.
• 56% of Generation Z users (age 13-18) and 42% of Generation Y users (age 19-29) send or receive text messages an hour before going to sleep.
• 15% of Generation X users (age 30-45) and 5% of Baby Boomers (age 46-64) do the same.
• About 19% of respondents send or receive work related emails on their mobile phones before bed.

According to Dr. Charles A. Czeisler, M.D., a co-author of the survey and the director of division of sleep medicine at Harvard’s Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston, “Electronics are making it very enticing to stay up later. You have 500 cable channels, 24/7 entertainment and technologies, video gaming available around the clock. How bad something is for you depend on the extent to which it is captivating you and tempting you not to sleep.” It is true that watching television and listening to music may have a more calming effect than interactive electronics such as cellphones, but his hypothesis is that these latter devices are more alerting and disrupt the sleep-onset process.

Further Dr. Czeisler makes the statement that “artificial light exposure between dusk and the time we go to bed at night suppresses release of the sleep-promoting hormone melatonin, enhances alertness and shifts circadian rhythms to a later hour - making it more difficult to fall asleep. This study reveals that light-emitting screens are in heavy use within the pivotal hour before sleep.”

Just to explain it further, the circadian rhythms suggest that the circadian system, also known as the biological clock, is the natural daily cycle that regulates patterns of rest and activity. Circadian rhythm helps people maintain regular sleeping and waking schedules, ensuring that body systems and the brain get the proper amount of rest each night. However, this can be influenced by outside factors. Therefore, it must then be generally accepted that cellphone use before and during sleep, shifts these rhythms and makes it more difficult to go to sleep.

Generally the long term concerns and risks in using technology just before one goes to sleep or while in bed can include the following:

• Exhaustion: wake up tired and continue to feel sleepy throughout the day;
• Health concerns: various sleep disorders, such as insomnia and disrupted sleep-wake cycles, depression, bipolar disorder, seasonal affective disorder;
• Poor performance at school/work.

According to the poll, the following can already be seen in sleep deprived children (age 13-18):

• Mood impacted (85%)
• School work impacted (84%)
• Family life and home responsibility impacted (73%)
• Social and leisure activities impacted (68%)

Specialists in Great Britain report that over 3000 children have been referred to them suffering from sleepwalking and insomnia.

It is quite unnerving information if one takes into account that at this age there is still body, brain and emotional development taking place. The same reasons why infants need rest should actually apply: healthy growing. As parents we sit with the same responsibility as we carried in their early forming years to ensure that they reach their full potential.

As our children grow up and are given the privilege of owning a cellphone, it is vital for us as parents to set theboundaries from the start on safe and appropriate cellphone usage, including around bedtime.

Many parents do not recognise the early warning signs of sleep deprived children. Here are some signs to look out for:

A sleep deprived child is a child that…

• regularly wakes up during the night;
• wakes up feeling un-refreshed;
• snores (if not for medical reasons);
• has difficulty falling asleep;
• wakes up too early and can’t go back to sleep;
• has difficulty concentrating;
• presents with low energy levels;
• has unexplainable mood swings.

Once you have identified these signs, it might be advised to attend to it sooner rather than later. Here are some practical tips on helping you and your family in preventing technology from leaving your children feeling chronically sleep deprived:

• Set a “bedtime alarm” 45 to 60 minutes before their bedtime as a reminder to you and them to turn off all electronics and begin to wind down.
• If it is difficult for your children, listen to music or encourage reading as a way of winding down. Find a night time ritual that works for your family. It can even include choosing outfits for the following day or folding washing. Any activity that will encourage them to calm down.
• Start dimming the house lights a couple of hours before bed. Avoid bright lights, and even encourage the safe use of candles in the bathroom, so that they are not being exposed to bright lights while they are getting ready for bed.
• Take the television and the video game console(s) out of your children’s rooms. The same rule applies for the computer, handheld gaming devices and cellphones. The portable devices have to charge sometime. Put the charging devices in another room and make it a rule that after a certain time at night, about an hour before lights out, the devices have to be in their chargers. More than 10 % of youngsters are awakened from their sleep by their cellphones at least a few times a week.
• Be considerate - it's hard for children to get to sleep when the TV in the living room is emitting tempting sounds of mayhem and music. Create an atmosphere of peace and quiet.

 

RESOURCES

http://www.sleepfoundation.org/sites/default/files/sleepinamericapoll/SI...
http://www.bnet.com/blog/career-advice/sleep-deprivation-the-surprising-...
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20040008-17.html
http://www.pcworld.com/article/22147/logging_on_near_bedtime_affects_sle...
http://www.health24.com/news/Sleep/1-1249,61500.asp
http://www.aspeneducation.com/Article-teen-sleeping.html
http://www.healthcentral.com/sleep-disorders/c/5954/26117/technology