Electronics cause sleep loss

Nighttime use makes it difficult for the body to relax

By Mark Dent

Friday, September 14, 2007

Brady, Topeka freshman, has just finished his homework and wants to reward himself. He plays for a half hour then goes to sleep at about midnight — or at least he tries to.

photo

Mindy Ricketts

“I notice after playing video games I get wound up,” Brady said. “Sometimes I struggle to fall asleep.”

Recent studies by the British Sleep Council have shown that the prevalence of electronic devices in bedrooms causes teenagers to take longer to fall asleep. Dr. Carole Guillaume, a staff physician at Watkins Memorial Health Center certified in family and sleep medicine, agreed with the study’s results and said the subject has been studied several times. She said TVs, cell phones, computers, music players and other devices inhibit the ability to fall asleep for people of all ages, including college students, because they take away the transition time from the hectic pace of life to the sleep world.

Nintendo Wii is calling Doug Brady’s name.

The electronic devices stimulate people who use them before bed, Guillaume said. They turn on the body’s sympathetic nervous system when people need to turn on the parasympathetic nervous system to relax. She said people should unwind for an hour before they go to bed.

Guillaume said the presence of electronics can be just as negative as using them. She gave the example of a computer. She said the sight alone can make a person feel like work needs to be done.

“You should really have a bedroom without electronics in it,” Guillaume said. “The bedroom should be a restful environment. It should be reserved for sleep, sex and sickness.”

Most college rooms aren’t. They have more gadgets in them than Circuit City. Brady said he and his roommate shared a TV and Nintendo Wii, and each had a laptop. Jill Dorsey, Topeka freshman, usually talks on her cell phone before she goes to bed and sometimes uses her computer.

College students and electronics:

41 percent own a portable MP3 player

3.5 average hours spent on the Internet per day

20 average minutes spent texting every day

— Alloy College Explorer Study

National statistics show similarities. According to the Alloy College Explorer Study, 41 percent of college students owned a portable MP3 music device in 2006. Students spent an average of 3.5 hours each day on the Internet and 20 minutes text messaging.

Taking a long time to fall asleep is a problem for college students. Guillaume said college students need about seven and a half to nine hours of sleep each night, although it varies for each person. If it takes someone a long time to fall asleep, Guillaume said, he or she will want to sleep in late. That’s not possible for students who have classes in the morning.

According to Guillaume, lack of sleep can cause headaches, poor memory, poor concentration and falling asleep in class. Guillaume also said use of alcohol combined with a lack of sleep was twice as bad.

Even with these studies, it could be tough to pull college students away from their electronics. Brady said the seven hours of sleep that he averaged a night was plenty.

“Once I get going, I’m fine,” he said. “If I get in a really boring class, it’s different. But even if you get 10 hours of sleep you’d struggle to get through those classes.”

Dorsey said she thought she could fall asleep faster if she stopped talking on her phone before bed, but she had no plans of stopping her nightly routine.

Brady is slightly more likely to change his ways. He said he’s already started playing less Wii to get more Zs.

“I’m so tired 50 percent of the time that I skip it because I don’t want to get wound up,” Brady said. “The other 50 percent — I just can’t resist it.”

— Edited by Amelia Freidline

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