How Putting Devices Away Before Bed Improves Sleep
By Movieguide® Contributor
Fox News’ Dr. Nicole Saphier is sharing how putting electronics away before bed can improve sleep.
“30 to 50% of Americans say they have difficulty sleeping. 10% of them have such bad sleep that it actually interferes with their day-to-day life,” she told FOX & FRIENDS.
She shared a few tips on how you can improve your sleep. The first? “You absolutely have to say goodbye to electronics,” she emphasized.
The Sleep Foundation explained that the blue light emitted by devices can impact the body’s production of melatonin. The outlet explains:
Electronic back-lit devices like cell phones, tablets, readers, and computers emit short-wavelength enriched light, also known as blue light. Fluorescent and LED lights also emit blue light, which has been shown to reduce or delay the natural production of melatonin in the evening and decrease feelings of sleepiness. Blue light can also reduce the amount of time you spend in slow-wave and rapid-eye movement (REM) sleep, two stages of the sleep cycle that are vital for cognitive functioning.
Saphier advises putting away devices “at least an hour before bedtime. This signals to your brain those bright lights are gone. It is time to go to bed.”
She also encourages people to write down their worries and to-do lists, exercise during the day, avoid heavy meals before bed, keep the room cool and drink some herbal tea to help aid sleep.
Along with her work as a physician, Saphier is a mom. She’s been open about her teen pregnancy and how that drew her closer to her family.
“You know what, in the moment when I told [her mom Becky she was pregnant], I showed up at her work, she was obviously shocked, I was supposed to be at school…and she just kept her emotions to herself. In a moment when she could have yelled at me, she could have shown her disappointment, her fear and she didn’t all she said was, ‘I’m gonna be by your side no matter what you decide,” Saphier said.
“She wasn’t telling me what I should do, she wasn’t giving me any false promises that everything was going to be easy or going to be okay but she just said she was going to be by my side,” she continued.
That promise of support made all the difference as she became a mother at such a young age. Knowing that she had her mother by her side, Saphier continued to pursue her dreams and eventually became a licensed physician while raising her son.
Saphier writes about this leg of her story and so many other joyful and hard parts of motherhood in her new book “Love, Mom.” The book isn’t just about her experience though. It is full of motherhood stories from numerous strong women.
“A common theme amongst a lot of these stories was…leaning on faith and leaning on a church community or whatever it is that gave them strength and support,” she explained. “It’s a common misconception that people think that if you lean on people or ask for help from people that’s a sign of weakness; no, it’s not. Leaning on people and asking for help is going to make you stronger because we are stronger together.”
“Love, Mom” is available now.
Movieguide® previously reported:
The book is comprised of numerous interviews and stories of strong mothers who recount their parenting experiences. It is split into sections, each focusing on a different aspect of motherhood.
“There’s no such thing as a mom who hasn’t tapped into her resilience at least one, twice, ten thousand times because there are constant ups and downs throughout motherhood, and I’m talking about not just, you know, things that come our way, but even emotionally,” Saphier said. “Just right after you have a baby, your emotions really cause some highs and lows.”
“We talk about feelings or anxiety, feelings of depression, or, you know, things that kind of hold us in our tracks and make us think that maybe we’ll never get where we want to be, and really it is resilience and just kind of pushing through these obstacles and you just have to believe in yourself,” she added.
Another aspect of motherhood that she focused on was taking care of yourself. While it can be tempting to place your children above yourself, you still have to take care of your own needs in order to be a good mom.
