While many speculations in the media indicate that late night exposure to our phones or other self-luminous gadgets disturb our sleep, a recent research concludes otherwise.
The research that was published in the journal Sleep Medicine, shows that if a person has an ample exposure to daylight, then the light from our phones and tablets at night, won’t stop us from having a sound sleep. The study also shows that the levels of the hormone which impacts our sleep-wake cycles are also not affected.
Doctoral Student at the Uppsala University in Sweden, Frida Rangtell, said, “Our most important finding was that the issue of whether screen light in the evening could interfere with your sleep is more complex than previously highlighted and that there are certain important factors (such as daytime exposure to light) that affect this.”
Christian Benedict, Associate Professor at Uppsala University, adds, “However, one must keep in mind that utilising electronic devices for the sake of checking your work emails or social network accounts before snoozing may lead to sleep disturbances because they may cause emotional arousal.”
In the study, 14 participants were divided into 2 groups. One group’s participants were given tablets to read from, from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m., and the other group was given a hard book. It was then concluded that there were no differences in the sleep parameters as well we the pre-sleep saliva melatonin levels between the two groups.