In a recent study published in the journal PLOS One, your smartphone might be very useful to you that you keep on holding on to it even while you are sleeping. However, keeping your device near you during bedtime may result to a discomfort you fail to notice. CNN reports that you develop a bad sleeping quality without your knowledge.
Dr. Gregory Marcus, the author of the study and currently an associate professor of medicine in San Francisco at the University of California, said that the participants in the study reported that the use of smartphones around sleeping time give them a more difficult to fall asleep and have discomforting sleep quality.
Dr. Neil Kline, a representative of the American Sleep Association, stated that sleep is a restorative process and a basic biological need. When animals including humans are deprived of sleep, many of the systems of the body can malfunction. The body, memory, and attention span are all affected with lack of sleep. The endocrine and immune system are also being impaired. He also said that low-quantity sleep is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, depression, diabetes and obesity.
The participants used their smartphones in an average of 38.4 hours over thirty days, the results of the study showed. A person who has longer average screen time is more likely to have poorer sleep quality and minimum sleep. They also concluded that throughout the 24-hour period, screen-time differs but occurs mostly during the day.
Despite the fact that most of the negative effects where exclusively studied in adults, younger people's sleep is also affected by technology according to the study of Ben Carter, a senior lecturer in biostatistics at King's College London. They have discovered that losing sleep time and sleep quality is associated with the use of technology like cell phones, computers and tablets.
Taking a look on the conclusions in the study of Marcus, Carter found it reasonable however.He believes that there are errors in some respects.
