Trouble Sleeping? You Could Be Guilty of This Detrimental Habit
By Movieguide® Contributor
Scrolling your phone an hour before your bedtime will negatively impact your sleep. Data shows that the blue light phones emit cause significant disruptions when absorbed so close to bedtime.
A Brain Communications study concluded, “Nighttime smartphone reading does not appear to interfere with whole-night sleep and sleep-dependent memory consolidation in adolescents and young adults if the smartphone is put away 1 h before bedtime. Although smartphone usage, especially without a blue-light filter, exerts pronounced suppressive effects on melatonin, adolescents demonstrate a more rapid recovery from the melatonin suppression than young adults do.”
Brain Communications suggests “adolescents and young adults to avoid exposure to LED screens in the last hour before bedtime.”
In another report by Harvard Health, they found, “shift workers and night owls could perhaps protect themselves if they wore eyewear that blocks blue light.”
Because of the struggle falling asleep, a “recent study found that more Americans are taking supplemental melatonin to sleep — with the number reaching for the sleep aid doubling in the last decade. And more children have been hospitalized for accidental melatonin overdoses,” PEOPLE reported.
The recommended melatonin dose for children, suggested by the American Academy of Pediatrics, is “a low dose (0.5 mg or 1 mg) when taken 30 to 90 minutes before bedtime. Most children who do benefit from melatonin―even those with ADHD―don’t need more than 3 to 6 mg of melatonin.”
However, not enough studies have been done to tell if long-term melatonin use is safe for children.
“For example, there are concerns about how it might affect a child’s growth and development, particularly during puberty. Studies have also found that morning sleepiness, drowsiness, and possible increased urination at night are the most common side effects that occur while taking melatonin. Further, melatonin may interact with other medicines a child takes,” the American Academy of Pediatrics reported.
