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Have you ever gotten a late-night phone call that startled you into alert mode? What about getting onto the computer after you tossed and turned relentlessly into the night? Technology seems to be such a part of our everyday life that it’s even creeping into our sleep.
The National Sleep Foundation’s annual Sleep in America poll released March 7, 2011 focuses on communications technology use and sleep, and found that there is a “pervasive use of communications technology in the hour before bed.” Also, many Americans aren’t getting a proper amount of sleep and are coping in sometimes unhealthy ways through caffeine and naps.
As can be expected, sleep now seems to be a luxury.
“Forty three percent of Americans between the ages of 13 and 64 say they rarely or never get a good night's sleep on weeknights. More than half (60 percent) say that they experience a sleep problem every night or almost every night,” according to the poll.
Dr. William Kohler, the medical director of the Florida Sleep Institute, said that it’s common to have sleep issues now.
“It’s sort of a joke in a sense in the sleep community that our sleep debt is higher than our national debt,” Kohler said. “As Americans, we’re a 24/7 society and we are typically sleep-deprived. We’re not getting the sleep that we need. In order to function maximally, you need to have both sufficient quantity and quality of sleep, and we’re not getting either.”
Some common causes of these sleep problems are doing “too much too late,” he said. This means not setting aside proper time to sleep. Technology also is a major distraction at bedtime.
“The brightness of some of the monitors is such that it interferes with our sleep also,” Kohler said. “In order to get adequate rest, we have to have basically a wind-down period, and our brain needs to produce melatonin to help us with sleep, and bright light interferes with the melatonin production. We’re really not only staying up too late, but we’re doing things that inhibit getting into sleep.”
Technology is not the answer to insomnia or sleep problems either. If you get up in the middle of the night, do something boring or relaxing instead of something stressful or exciting so it’s easier to get back to sleep, he said.
There are also sleep problems, like sleep apnea, that are linked to obesity, and society is only becoming bigger, Kohler said. Older women are also more likely to have insomnia.
Although most assume that teenagers are glued to their technology, technology is part of most Americans’ sleep rituals (regardless of age) in the hour before going to bed. The type of technology used is more age-dependent.
“Almost everyone surveyed, 95 percent, uses some type of electronics like a television, computer, video game or cell phone at least a few nights a week within the hour before bed,” according to the poll.
TV and computer or laptop use is common among most age groups, but video games are mainly played by 13 to 29-year-olds. Cell phone use is also more common in the younger generations, and also can be more of a sleep disturbance.
“About in one in 10 of generation Z'ers (9 percent) say that they are awakened after they go to bed every night or almost every night by a phone call, text message or e-mail. About one in five of generation Y'ers (20 percent) and generation Z'ers (18 percent) say this happens at least a few nights a week,” according to the poll.
Generation Z'ers are 13 to 18-year-olds, and Generation Y'ers are 19 to 29-year-olds, according to the poll.
Kohler said that this prevalent technology use could be from peer pressure and lack of parental supervision. Parents can help by removing technology from the bedroom and leaving the bedroom for sleep.
It can be tougher to get a good night’s sleep for people who have on-call jobs that require them to have technology in the bedroom, like a cell phone.
“There’s a propensity for our brain to be alert when we’re on-call for something,” Kohler said, and the only way to improve sleep in that situation is to work on the areas in life that can be controlled, like smoking and alcohol.
“We need to maximize the assets that we have for sleep and then try to deal with the things we can’t control the best we can,” Kohler said.
Although most people assume that eating and drinking before bed is disruptive, some milk and a light snack are acceptable, like cheese or food containing tryptophan. He said the key word is “light,” since too many fluids or food can wake people up at night.
It also seems that the younger people are, the sleepier they are.
“Unfortunately, the way our society is set up … is not conducive to ideal sleep,” Kohler said. “We’ve got children going to school way too early, kids getting up to get on the bus at 5:30 to 6 to get to school, which is completely inappropriate as far as making them maximally alert to learn.”
By forcing children to get up so early, this is depriving them of sleep and not allowing them to learn properly, he said.
“Sleep deprivation is accumulative, in the sense that if you lose an hour of sleep a night, by the end of the week, it’s like you stayed up all night. You’ve lost seven hours basically of sleep,” Kohler said.
Drinking alcohol and taking medication during sleep deprivation will also have a “much more rigorous effect on you,” he said.
To combat this sleepiness, many people turn to naps and caffeine. This sleepiness can affect work, driving and sex.
“For those who are employed and report not getting adequate sleep, about three quarters (74 percent) of those over 30 said that sleepiness affects their work. About two-thirds of adults (61 percent) said that their intimate or sexual relations were affected by sleepiness,” according to the poll.
For those who rely on naps and caffeine to get through the day, the National Sleep Foundation has some advice. The foundation suggests people should take “no late-afternoon or evening naps, unless you work nights. If you must nap, keep it under 45 minutes and before 3 p.m.,” according to a press release. Also, stay away from caffeine at night. Other advice includes no alcohol at night, regular exercise, and bright lights at night. Also, “keep a ‘worry book’ next to your bed. If you wake up because of worries, write them down with an action plan, and forget about them until morning.”
What role does technology play in your life? Does it affect your sleep? Are you getting enough sleep? How do you make sure you get the proper quantity and quality of sleep?
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