I've personally had sleep issues for years now... Basically, I have a difficult time falling asleep and staying asleep. I do spend quite a bit of time on the computer at night and do use an eReader to read many books.
I did come an interesting article posted on the New York Times's blog titled How E-Books May Disrupt Your Sleep by Nicholas Bakalar. In the article, Bakalar writes the following:
Compared with a printed book, a light-emitting e-book decreased sleepiness, reduced REM sleep (often called dream sleep), and substantially suppressed the normal bedtime rise of melatonin, the hormone that regulates the sleep and wake cycle. The e-book users took longer to fall asleep and felt sleepier in the morning.
“Much more has to be known about the kind of impact these devices have on our health and well-being,” said the lead author, Anne-Marie Chang, an assistant professor of biobehavioral health at Penn State. “The technology moves quickly, and the science lags.”So, perhaps some of my sleep issues are related to reading books on an electronic devices at night near bed time!?
Interesting article, though I disagree a bit. Reading helps me sleep and I feel sleepier in the same amount of time, whether it is a digital book or not. Of course, sometimes I can't stop reading because the book is so good. I think that is just a problem with all readers. Ha
ReplyDeleteReading helps me relax too!! If a book is particularly good/captivating, I do find myself staying awake longer to spend more time reading it when I should be sleeping instead... I simply found it interesting to learn that 'a light-emitting e-book decreased sleepiness' as this may be the reason I've been having sleep issues.
DeleteJust clicking through to get a feel for your blog after coming in on the first book of the year meme. I am not the best sleeper and I know I'm more hyped up if I spend time on the computer before going to bed so try to not do it - but still do sometimes! I find my Kindle doesn't emit that much light but would hate to read on an iPad.
ReplyDeleteThanks for leaving me another comment!! I've noticed that spending more time on the computer before bed is more likely to keep me up than reading on an eReader too.
DeleteThanks for stopping by and leaving me a comment!!
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