Your Computer Or iPad Could Be Disrupting Sleep

Crash McBang sends in a CNN report on electronics and sleeplessness and asks, "So, what do Slashdotters do to get a good night's rest?" "More than ever, consumer electronics — particularly laptops, smartphones, and Apple's new iPad — are shining bright light into our eyes until just moments before we doze off. Now there's growing concern that these glowing gadgets may actually fool our brains into thinking it's daytime. Exposure can disturb sleep patterns and exacerbate insomnia, some sleep researchers said in interviews. ... Unlike paper books or e-book readers like the Amazon Kindle, which does not emit its own light, the iPad's screen shines light directly into the reader's eyes from a relatively close distance. That makes the iPad and laptops more likely to disrupt sleep patterns than, say, a television sitting across the bedroom or a lamp that illuminates a paper book, both of which shoot far less light straight into the eye, researchers said."

Comments

Simple fix

[sopssa]

"So, what do Slashdotters do to get a good night's rest?"

If you get a girlfriend she will put all those computer things away at night. You also get to have sex and cuddle and spoon her, making it really easy to fall a sleep. It's the easiest and simplest fix.

Re:Simple fix

[mce]

Easy & simple, you say? It shows that you don't have a girlfriend... ;-)

Re:Simple fix

[mwvdlee]

Yeah, and blowing her up before getting into bed every night wears you out.

Re:Simple fix

[Anonymous Coward]

Q: What's the difference between a fake girlfriend and a real girlfriend?
A: Your blow the fake one, the real one blows you.

Re:Simple fix

[BatGnat]

I'm not allowed to have a girlfriend...My wife wont let me? :(

Re:Simple fix

[node 3]

I swear every time my wife and i get it on, the computer wakes up, brightly lighting the room

Well, maybe you'll think twice next time before stealing a Pennsylvanian school kid's MacBook!

f.lux

[kemenaran]

That's what f.lux is for. It changes the temperature of your screen according to the time (sunrise/sunset). It works under Mac, Linux, Windows ; a real gem.

Re:f.lux

[PopeRatzo]

It changes the temperature of your screen according to the time (sunrise/sunset).

There's a much simpler solution. Works with or without a computer. It's called a "sleep mask" and does not require USB, batteries or proprietary power connector. There are even versions that will muffle sound (see "Sleep Master Sleep Mask").

I started using a sleep mask in my 30's, when I had a really bad bout of insomnia. It was just the thing. Even if you don't want to sleep all night with one, if you want to take a short nap during the day these will really help out a lot. And naps are fantastic. I don't care if they look goofy. I'm an old married guy so I don't need to try to impress anyone while I sleep.

Sleep is one of the great gifts that we are granted as humans. I squandered so many hours in my twenties and thirties when I could have been sleeping, and then abused coffee and other stimulants to try to cope. Then I'd wonder why I felt strung-out and had jangly nerves. Now, I look forward to sleep with great joy and anticipation. It is high on my list of favorite things to do, for at least eight hours every night. I would give up my latest tech gadget long before I'd part with my flannel sheets, goose-down pillow and chamomile/spearmint tea.

Re:f.lux

[Trubacca]

That's what f.lux is for. It changes the temperature of your screen according to the time (sunrise/sunset). It works under Mac, Linux, Windows ; a real gem.

Bump. Installing F.lux for me was like discovering that I had been secretly poisoned by mercury for the last several years. I simply could not believe how much strain was lifted from my eyes by keeping it on. My ability to sleep has substantially improved, and I get substantially fewer headaches during marathon coding sessions. It has an almost undetectable memory footprint, and you will completely forget it is there. Turning it off is an interesting experience, as it is an instant demo of exactly how penetrating monitor light can be! I recommend it to all of my friends and family. Of course, most people will just have to see for themselves, as I can only speak for myself. In my opinion, however, the function provided is important enough that it's absence as a default feature in OS's seems kind of irresponsible, if not just negligent and a reflection of poor UI research and design.

iPhone

[balsy2001]

My iPhone disrupts my sleep every day. It's my alarm clock.

I believe this

[Beryllium Sphere(tm)]

I've noticed an improvement in my sleep patterns since I set a curfew for the computers, stopping any use of them two or three hours before bedtime.

Re:I believe this

[King_TJ]

I don't doubt you, but do you really think it's because the light from the screen fools your brain into thinking it's still daytime, or do you think it's something completely different?

Personally, I think a lot of people just need to "wind down" before they can get to sleep. They can't go from doing something mentally stimulating to sleeping, just like that. People can fall asleep watching TV because it's a passive activity... but using your computer requires some interaction and mental processing.

How about researcher before we panic?

[CheshireCatCO]

I think that this line from the article says it all:

While there has been research to show that light -- even artificial light -- can affect human melatonin production, no research has been done specifically on whether the iPad and laptops disrupt sleep cycles.

Basically, we'll speculate wildly about what might be harming you (threats sell news!) without any actual research. I'm not saying that the claims are improbable, just that it can't be that hard to do some studies on the effects of iPads and other gadgets on sleep. This isn't even a multi-year study, it ought to take a few months (max) to run and probably a few more to work over the data.

I sleep like a baby

[PPH]

Waking up screaming and shitting in my pants every couple of hours.

When will the media learn..

[sgt101]

when will people get this :

NO ONE CARES WHAT "A RESEARCHER" (or professor, or cleverdick) SAYS

we only care if they have published peer reviewed research that we can read and evaluate for ourselves and then decide if we believe if it is substantively true or not.

Thank you for your attention.

Freakin' Mac "Like Paper" look to blame

[rbrander]

The greatest thing about my new "Linux Mint" distribution with "CompizConfig" was the "negative" trick under "Accessibility". It negates all the colour bits in a window or desktop, turning the usual "black ink on white paper" look of most web pages (at least news pages) to white-on-black.

Hitting that button at night makes you go "aaahhh" as your eyes stop aching when you hadn't noticed how strained they were.

It was all keewwwwl for them to make the Mac be the first computer to have word processing and so forth look like black ink on paper when every computer monitor before them had been white text on dark. But direct light into your face is NOT reflections from paper and it was always a stupid idea for legibility and ergonomics both.

I'm not sure about the sleep thing (I don't recall any trouble before I got the "negative" function a few months ago) but trust me, get that capability if you use either a CRT or LCD with modern apps and web pages in a dim room. Your optic nerves will practically sob with relief.

Re:Freakin' Mac "Like Paper" look to blame

[MacAnkka]

ctrl+alt+command+8 negates the screen on a mac. I, too, have used that feature during night a couple of times and it does help.

blah blah iPad

[FooHentai]

I love how this article singles out the iPad for no valid reason whatsoever, just to whore up attention since the iPad is the latest hot topic. Should have thrown in some 9/11 or Obama references for added traffic. Maybe mention Haiti or Thailand a bit. Sleep patterns blah blah IPAD blah devices IPAD blah blah IPAD blah light intensity blah IPAD blah