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Computers WILL Impair Your Ability To Sleep!
I'm very new to this site so forgive me if this has already been discussed but it is too important to not share. I have discovered, if I get on my computer for any amount of time at all 3 -4 hours before bed, it will dramatically screw up my ability to sleep! When I researched this, I discovered all kinds of websites validating this. If I get on the computer at night, I'm lucky if I stay asleep 3-4 hours. If I don't get on the computer at night, I'm out for at least seven hours with zero nighttime trips to the bathroom..
It seems the blue wave light emitted from the computer monitor will really interfere with your brain's natural sleep mechanisms.
I WAS looking to buy a Kindle but I'm postponing this purchase until I find proof that this device will not impair my sleep like a computer monitor does.
I even tried wearing tinted glasses while on the computer in the evening. Didn't help. So now I do all my computer stuff in the wee hours of the morning before I go to work. If you want to look it up yourself just google "computer monitors interfering with sleep". You'll get dozens of web pages to view.
Hope this helps someone.
Views: 1734
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by MZH on
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Kate, could you provide a link? I can't seem to find them on Amazon; it's eluding all my searches..
Kate said:BP Medical supplies has a pair of blue light blocking safety glasses listed for 4.00. I just ordered a pair thru Amazon. I'll let you know how they work.
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I sleep very well after 2-3 hours of computer use in the evening.
I do admit it takes me a long while to get to sleep (1hr or so) but once I am asleep I sleep straight for 8 - 9 hours.
I will now try to limit my computer hours to allow for atleast 2 hours non-computer time before bedtime.
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Maybe it happens to you but not to me. I'm am on my MacBook Pro for hours just before I go to sleep and then I sleep like a baby! No problem. I would like to see a genuine scientific study claiming to document this claim.
Best, Nate
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Permalink Reply by ZolliStar on
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Nate, nothing is 100% applicable to every single biological creature -- except maybe that none (if warm-blooded) can go without water for, say, 17 days. (We can go without food for a surprisingly long time, however -- but not without water.)
Also, keep in mind: some are quite light sensitive. Your light receptors may not be as sensitive as others' receptors.
I don't know if the reason I don't sleep as well as I should is related to my late-night computer use, but I'm willing to turn off my computer and give the idea a whirl. As I think back, the nights that I've had the longest, most restorative sleep (I remember them -- there are so few) were nights that I was traveling and not attached to my computer.
Could it be another factor? Sure. But I'm going to try this possibility starting...TONIGHT!
Nate said:Maybe it happens to you but not to me. I'm am on my MacBook Pro for hours just before I go to sleep and then I sleep like a baby! No problem. I would like to see a genuine scientific study claiming to document this claim.
Best, Nate
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Permalink Reply by Donna Medin on
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I found this on the internet. You can buy Blue Blocking Filter Screens to go over your computer or TV. Check it out at the website below. It would eliminate finding a pair of glasses that will fit over your eyeglasses or you don't have to wear eyeglasses at all!!!
https://www.lowbluelights.com/products.asp?cid=16
Here's the website to buy inexpensive blue blocking glasses on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/cart/view-upsell.html?ie=UTF8&storeID=...
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One of the early posts provides a link to a site that allows one to download an app to the computer that changes the light-emission of one's computer as the day wears on so that the blue is reduced..
I might try...everything! (The screen; the glasses....)
Donna Medin said:I found this on the internet. You can buy Blue Blocking Filter Screens to go over your computer or TV. Check it out at the website below. It would eliminate finding a pair of glasses that will fit over your eyeglasses or you don't have to wear eyeglasses at all!!!
https://www.lowbluelights.com/products.asp?cid=16
Here's the website to buy inexpensive blue blocking glasses on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/cart/view-upsell.html?ie=UTF8&storeID=...
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Hi!
I have been through all of this with my daughter and myself. I have the sleep apnea, she has the disrupted sleep. We both have seasonal affective and summer seasonal affective disorder as well. How is sleep even possible? LOL!!!
My suggestion to anyone who uses their computer at night, is to download the program mentioned above. I think it's the same one I use, and it was a free download. It syncs with the global positioning atomic clock thing, and will begin to automatically filter out the blue light from your computer display when the sun sets in your area. You can turn it off if you need to do some specific color work, but don't if you don't have to. It really makes a difference. It does take a bit of getting used to, but as with anything, your life will be better if you stick with it. Technology leaps ahead and does not take into account the effects it will have on our bodies. We compensate later, after bad habits have been set.
As far as Kindle and Nook applications, check with the manufacturer to see if you can compensate with the built in settings, or see if you can download the same computer program to your unit (Nook Color, Kindle Fire) I am looking into this option today. It didn't even occur to me that replacing my computer with my Nook was just adding to my problem! LOL!!
It is the blue light that does the disruption. If you have ski goggles or some type of glasses with the heavy amber lenses to wear while watching tv in the evening, this will help. Nothing is perfect, but anything will help.
With that being said, 1 1/2 - 3 milligrams of Melatonin 1/2 hour before you want to settle down at night is what sleep doctors prescribe to reset your internal clock. If you are way off, you need to reset your clock 1/2 hour at a time. So say you are up until 3:00 in the morning, but want to be in bed by 11:30 every night. You would begin taking your melatonin about 2:00 and do something that will relax you until 2:30, then go to bed. It doesn't always work the first night, and you can increase the melatonin dose after a couple of days if it doesn't kick in. After falling asleep around 2:00 or 2:30 for a night or two, start taking your melatonin at 1:30, and repeat the process. Once you fall asleep at 1:30 or 2:00, move your melatonin to 1:00 and continue this process until you are going to bed and sleeping at 11:30. It is a very delicate process and can be full of set backs, but for now, this is all they say will work. You have to keep after it and make it routine, in order for it to work. I am not a doctor, but this is all straight from our Sleep doctor, who has been working with my daughter and I for a couple of years.
Other things can affect your internal clock as well, like diet and exercise. If you are insulin resistant or diabetic, you will have more of a challenge with disrupted sleeping. You really need to work with your doctor to come up with an all around plan for you.
It really is about changing your life and your habits. If you stopped driving through McDonald's for a quick meal, because you now know what it's doing to you, you can do this too. Your quality of life depends on it.
Good luck!
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Sherry,
I am curious about the program you mention, but I can't find the link in your message. Could you please include it in your next message? Many thanks, Nate
Sherry Rachauskas said:Hi!
I have been through all of this with my daughter and myself. I have the sleep apnea, she has the disrupted sleep. We both have seasonal affective and summer seasonal affective disorder as well. How is sleep even possible? LOL!!!
My suggestion to anyone who uses their computer at night, is to download the program mentioned above. I think it's the same one I use, and it was a free download. It syncs with the global positioning atomic clock thing, and will begin to automatically filter out the blue light from your computer display when the sun sets in your area. You can turn it off if you need to do some specific color work, but don't if you don't have to. It really makes a difference. It does take a bit of getting used to, but as with anything, your life will be better if you stick with it. Technology leaps ahead and does not take into account the effects it will have on our bodies. We compensate later, after bad habits have been set.
As far as Kindle and Nook applications, check with the manufacturer to see if you can compensate with the built in settings, or see if you can download the same computer program to your unit (Nook Color, Kindle Fire) I am looking into this option today. It didn't even occur to me that replacing my computer with my Nook was just adding to my problem! LOL!!
It is the blue light that does the disruption. If you have ski goggles or some type of glasses with the heavy amber lenses to wear while watching tv in the evening, this will help. Nothing is perfect, but anything will help.
With that being said, 1 1/2 - 3 milligrams of Melatonin 1/2 hour before you want to settle down at night is what sleep doctors prescribe to reset your internal clock. If you are way off, you need to reset your clock 1/2 hour at a time. So say you are up until 3:00 in the morning, but want to be in bed by 11:30 every night. You would begin taking your melatonin about 2:00 and do something that will relax you until 2:30, then go to bed. It doesn't always work the first night, and you can increase the melatonin dose after a couple of days if it doesn't kick in. After falling asleep around 2:00 or 2:30 for a night or two, start taking your melatonin at 1:30, and repeat the process. Once you fall asleep at 1:30 or 2:00, move your melatonin to 1:00 and continue this process until you are going to bed and sleeping at 11:30. It is a very delicate process and can be full of set backs, but for now, this is all they say will work. You have to keep after it and make it routine, in order for it to work. I am not a doctor, but this is all straight from our Sleep doctor, who has been working with my daughter and I for a couple of years.
Other things can affect your internal clock as well, like diet and exercise. If you are insulin resistant or diabetic, you will have more of a challenge with disrupted sleeping. You really need to work with your doctor to come up with an all around plan for you.
It really is about changing your life and your habits. If you stopped driving through McDonald's for a quick meal, because you now know what it's doing to you, you can do this too. Your quality of life depends on it.
Good luck!
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Kate, in response to your question about "e-ink" - the original Kindles create their images on screen by using electrically charged particles which are attracted to your screen (or not) to display the white background vs. the black letters that you see on the "page". This is why Kindles and other e-ink devices can not display moving images - but the result is a crisp, easy to read "page" which does not rely on backlighting and is easily visible outside in the sunlight.
Kate said:Hi Rock;
At the risk of sounding incredibly ignorant - what is e-link?
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Thank you, Sherry, for the explanation of how that free blue light program works.
I wonder how much it costs to cover a 52 inch LCD screen. I'll find out. :)
Re: the melatonin. What a detailed dosing schedule; you have a caring, knowledgeable sleep doc. I read somewhere - it was a reliable site but can't remember what it was - that 0.5 mg melatonin is even better than the 1 to 3 mg doses. Every time I tried a 1 mg pill.my heart rate increased and always wondered why. I don't know it that was dose-related or what. I never tried the .5 dose though. Might not need to if the blue light stuff works!
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Nate said:Sherry,
I am curious about the program you mention, but I can't find the link in your message. Could you please include it in your next message? Many thanks, Nate
Sherry Rachauskas said:Hi!
I have been through all of this with my daughter and myself. I have the sleep apnea, she has the disrupted sleep. We both have seasonal affective and summer seasonal affective disorder as well. How is sleep even possible? LOL!!!
My suggestion to anyone who uses their computer at night, is to download the program mentioned above. I think it's the same one I use, and it was a free download. It syncs with the global positioning atomic clock thing, and will begin to automatically filter out the blue light from your computer display when the sun sets in your area. You can turn it off if you need to do some specific color work, but don't if you don't have to. It really makes a difference. It does take a bit of getting used to, but as with anything, your life will be better if you stick with it. Technology leaps ahead and does not take into account the effects it will have on our bodies. We compensate later, after bad habits have been set.
As far as Kindle and Nook applications, check with the manufacturer to see if you can compensate with the built in settings, or see if you can download the same computer program to your unit (Nook Color, Kindle Fire) I am looking into this option today. It didn't even occur to me that replacing my computer with my Nook was just adding to my problem! LOL!!
It is the blue light that does the disruption. If you have ski goggles or some type of glasses with the heavy amber lenses to wear while watching tv in the evening, this will help. Nothing is perfect, but anything will help.
With that being said, 1 1/2 - 3 milligrams of Melatonin 1/2 hour before you want to settle down at night is what sleep doctors prescribe to reset your internal clock. If you are way off, you need to reset your clock 1/2 hour at a time. So say you are up until 3:00 in the morning, but want to be in bed by 11:30 every night. You would begin taking your melatonin about 2:00 and do something that will relax you until 2:30, then go to bed. It doesn't always work the first night, and you can increase the melatonin dose after a couple of days if it doesn't kick in. After falling asleep around 2:00 or 2:30 for a night or two, start taking your melatonin at 1:30, and repeat the process. Once you fall asleep at 1:30 or 2:00, move your melatonin to 1:00 and continue this process until you are going to bed and sleeping at 11:30. It is a very delicate process and can be full of set backs, but for now, this is all they say will work. You have to keep after it and make it routine, in order for it to work. I am not a doctor, but this is all straight from our Sleep doctor, who has been working with my daughter and I for a couple of years.
Other things can affect your internal clock as well, like diet and exercise. If you are insulin resistant or diabetic, you will have more of a challenge with disrupted sleeping. You really need to work with your doctor to come up with an all around plan for you.
It really is about changing your life and your habits. If you stopped driving through McDonald's for a quick meal, because you now know what it's doing to you, you can do this too. Your quality of life depends on it.
Good luck!
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