HealthDay reported that “many Americans might be losing valuable shut-eye because they spend the hour before bedtime in front of the electronic glow of a television, cell phone, or computer,” according to the National Sleep Foundation’s annual Sleep in America poll results released earlier this year.
Researchers surveyed “1,508 people” and found that overall, 63% were not “getting enough sleep” during the week.
Notably, 95% of all respondents “said they’d used an electronic device” within an hour before bed “at least a few nights a week.”
Of those, about 66% in the “aged 30 to 64” group said they frequently watched television “in the hour before bed”; and those under age 30 were more likely to “send or receive text messages” before bed.
According to a report from WebMD, teens were “most likely to report sleepiness.”
The poll showed that about “22% of the teens got a ‘sleepy’ rating when a standard assessment tool was used, as did 16% of the 19- to 29-year-olds.”
The survey respondent ages ranged “from 13 to 64.”
According to Russell Rosenberg, PhD, “chair of the Sleep in America 2011 task force and director of the Atlanta School of Sleep Medicine and Technology,” sleep experts “discourage screen time before bed” because light suppresses the hormone melatonin.
I couldn’t agree more.
So what should you and your family do? Simple! It’s off with all electronic devices at least one hour before bedtime. It’s a highly healthy habit indeed!