How Smartphones Affect Your Sleep

[0:07]The impact of screens on sleep. You know, people are exposing their eyes to the stream of photons from these objects that basically tells your brain, stay awake, it's not time to go to sleep yet. So, it's 10:00 p.m., it's 11:00 p.m., it's 12:00 p.m. You're checking for email, you're looking for text, you're doing all these things. That light beams in you, it tells your brain don't secrete melatonin yet. It's not time for sleep. And you're up at 12:30, you're up at 1:00, you're checking some more because you're up after all, why shouldn't you check? Now, you go to bed at 1:00, you wake up at 6:00 to get ready for work. That's five hours of sleep. We now know that what sleep is likely doing is allowing your active neurons to rest, which is fine. But more than that, the supportive cells called Glial cells are now cleaning up the toxins that the neurons produce. And if you don't get from seven to nine hours of sleep, you just get five, the toxins remain there for over 95% of people. There are a small percentage of people are genetically different, they don't need that much sleep, but for the vast majority of us, we need seven to nine hours of sleep. So even though it's like a badge of courage, I only have three hours of sleep last night and I'm working today. It makes your attention falter, your memory is impaired, your ability to think through problems is challenged. Your insulin even that helps regulate your metabolism is turned upside down so you're more likely to gain weight from what you eat and eat more. And then, if that weren't enough, it's actually toxic to the connections in your cells. So, in your brain, So, what you want to do is prioritize sleep. Shut off your screens, let's say by 9:00 p.m. Give yourself an hour at least before you're going to bed and keep those screens off. It's a serious, serious problem for everyone and we can do something about it by actually actively deciding that's what we're going to do is take care of this aspect of the digital domain.