“Sleep is the best meditation.”
– Dalai Lama –
According to the National Sleep Foundation, 8.25 is the number of hours of sleep we’re supposed to get per night. For many of you, it may feel like the number of hours you spend in front of a screen until the second you go to sleep!
What’s the connection between sleep and screen time?
Excessive screen time can put stress on your nervous system (along with your hormones and cells, etc), and an overworked nervous system makes it harder to sleep! Stressed out nervous system + no sleep = a big hormonal mess. Hormonal imbalances I’ve seen include issues like low sex drive, difficult PMS symptoms, weight gain, breast/ovarian cysts, muscle loss, decreased metabolism, poor concentration, mood issues, advanced aging, and more.
SLEEP DEPRIVATION CAN CAUSE SIGNIFICANT HORMONAL IMBALANCE
Sleep is an opportunity for your body and brain to recover from the day, replenish energy, and balance out the effects of stress. During the deep sleep stage, your nervous system shuts down, adding to the calm, vegetative state you need for a restful sleep. As the nervous system slows, the “Rest and Digest Response” or “Relaxation Response” is activated, meaning there’s a decrease in stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol. When you sleep, you want these stress hormones to be low.
When you don’t get enough sleep, stress hormones increase, causing your body to interpret the situation as stressful. In this case, the “Fight or Flight Response” is activated, which is basically like putting your foot on the gas before bed, when you should really be putting your foot on the brake.
Learn More: What is The Stress Response (and how it impacts hormones)
Learn More: Did you know a lack of sleep can make you hungry?
HOW DO ELECTRONICS INTERFERE WITH SLEEP?
Technology isn’t going away, but we need to set usage limits for electronics at a reasonable and healthy rate. It’s important to accept that overexposure to screens, devices and sounds can overstimulate our nervous systems and become a physical stressor that has the potential to negatively impact our physical and mental health. We also need to be aware of the impact of this electronic pollution (aka electropollution) so that we can find a healthy balance in this age of digital consumption. Zapped, by Anne Louise Gittleman, is a great book that can help guide you to live safely with the gadgets you can’t live without!
How do electronics impact your sleep?
We’ve said that electronics stimulate your nervous system. Your Stress Response starts in the nervous system. Excessive usage of screens, using multiple screens at one time overstimulate the nervous system. Here’s what is actually happening when you interact with screens:
- Light emissions: The light emitted from the screen tricks your circadian rhythm into thinking it’s daytime (when you should be getting up or doing daily tasks) even though it’s night time, when you should be preparing for sleep.
- Electromagnetic energy fields: EMFs are disrupting the particles and energy that make up your body. EMFs are the wavelengths or frequencies emitted from sources like radios, cell phones, TVs, refrigerators, electric blankets, cordless phones, etc. Low levels of EMFs can suppress the body’s production of melatonin, which of course aids sleep.
- Emergency signals in your brain from device prompts: Emails, direct messages, news alerts, social media prompts, etc. are powerful forms of mental stimulation that can keep you alert and unable to relax. It doesn’t need to be a stressful email, text or news release to keep you from sleeping well. Anything that is taking your attention away from preparing your brain for sleep and calm can lead to a disruptive night.
By the end of the day, your nervous system has probably either hit its limit or is close to it. Yet if your wind down routine at the end of the day includes engaging in multiple chats while watching Netflix, you are likely making matters worse.
Screens, apps, games, social media filters, flash sales – all of them are addictive. You know it. Tech companies know it. Their business model is to make themselves as irresistible as possible. In order to get a restful sleep you need to introduce a healthy routine that reliably gets your body into the ‘Rest and Digest’ mode. This means you need to remove stimulus.
Learn More: Tips for a better sleep
👩🏫 Is Hidden Stress keeping you from getting a good night’s sleep? Take the What’s Your Hidden Stress Score Quiz to find out!
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