At some point in your life, you’ve probably heard your mother or father utter the age-old saying, “Don’t sit so close to the TV. It’s bad for you.” Well, in the same manner, it might be that the technology of the 21st century (such as laptops, tablets and smartphones) is affecting consumer health in an otherwise unforeseen way.
As students, we often take certain things for granted. Sleep, for example, is one of those things that is often abused. Of course, it’s not that students don’t appreciate sleep, it’s just the nature of the lifestyle that university students have. Between exams, papers, extracurriculars and maintaining a social life, there’s a lot of noise and disruption in the life of a typical student. But what does this lifestyle cost us physiologically?
With the advent of modern day technology, the American population is more connected to its gadgets than ever before. According to a study by Educause (PDF), a nonprofit association committed to the advancement of higher education, as of 2012, 86 percent of undergraduates at four-year institutions own a laptop, 62 percent own a smartphone and 15 percent own a tablet device. Additionally, the rate of use is constantly on the rise, with increased social media accessibility, digital film and television streaming and other wonders of the vast World Wide Web.
With that in mind, it’s easy to see the progression of taking mobile technology into the bedroom. In fact, according to a 2011 study from the Sleep Foundation’s Sleep In America poll (PDF), 39 percent of Americans are bringing their cell phones into the bedroom and using them immediately before trying to go to sleep. Also, around 61 percent of Americans “are using their computers or laptops regularly within hours of trying to go to sleep,” according to the study. Furthermore, the study showed that these people are less likely to report that they got a full night’s rest. Health professionals and research confirm these assertions.
“Within an hour of going to bed, you should turn off any type of technology because it actually reduces the amount of your sleep hormone, melatonin,” said Marci Torres, director of the University Healthy Campus Initiatives. “The computer or any sort of screen gives us a false sense of light, and it messes with the production of that hormone. It also messes with our circadian rhythms or our sleep cycle. It throws all of that off.”
Torres continued, “So at a time when you would normally go to bed, if you’re focused on a computer screen or a TV screen or whatever it may be, it tricks your body into thinking that it’s earlier than it actually is.” She explained that once you do turn away from that screen and try to fall asleep, it could take another hour before your body recognizes that it’s tired again.
But considering the student lifestyle, it may seem a bit unrealistic to think that every student will be able to have the time or capacity to practice more healthy sleeping habits.
“A lot of what we do now is online, so you’re required to look at a computer screen, especially during midterms and finals,” Torres said. “Time management is important.”
Cramming for an exam until the early hours of the morning is almost a rite of passage for university students, but this can have serious effects on sleep and the ability to succeed in day-to-day activities and responsibilities, especially when exams and papers are due, Torres explained. “I know it’s not as easy as it sounds, but truly it comes down to time management. If you’re tired when you go and take your exam, then you’re probably not going to do as well,” she said.
According to a research survey done in the spring of 2012 by the American College Health Association, a 49.1 percent majority of selected student respondents said that within the last two weeks they have felt exhausted (not from physical activity).
However, in the same study a 42.8 percent majority of student respondents stated that in the last seven days they had not had an extremely hard time falling asleep. Also, only 15.8 percent of student respondents admitted that difficulties sleeping or falling asleep had caused them to receive a lower grade on an exam.
Andre Labrune, a third-year psychology major, explained that he often uses technology within an hour of sleep. In fact, he said that he uses his smartphone every night in bed before falling asleep.
“I’ve definitely considered that it keeps me up,” he said. “Sometimes I’ll see something exciting on Facebook, like an upcoming concert, or other times I’ll get an email from a teacher that’s negative that keeps me up. Even just looking at the screen for a long time does the trick. The light from my computer messes with my eyes any time of the day.”
Although Labrune is conscious of the effects that his nightly technology use has, he feels that he would try to change his habits but end up going back to the same routine. Like Labrune, Alexandra Rosenberg also finds herself using technology before bed. Rosenberg, a senior at the University of Oregon studying international studies and Asian studies, explained that she uses her laptop in bed to stream television shows as a tool for relaxation before sleep.
“I think it’s calming. I often like to read for pleasure before bed, but I think with school it’s more difficult to pleasurably read, so TV sort of becomes that escape for a half an hour before I fall asleep,” she said.
Rosenberg said she sometimes has difficulty falling asleep but doesn’t associate those difficulties with using her technology immediately preceding sleep.
“Usually I find that it’s a factor of what I’ve done that day. I like to think that sometimes when I watch a show before I go to bed that it calms my mind, but perhaps that’s a misconception,” she said.
Instances like this show that it’s becoming more common to use technology to unwind after a long day by streaming and watching movies and TV shows, especially when an entire day has been consumed by school, work and daily chores or errands.
But while the effects that the lack of sleep can have on our body may seem minor, they have the potential to have serious consequences on one’s daily routine, Torres explained.
“In terms of college students, if you’re not getting enough sleep, you’re not going to retain the information that your professors are giving out to you when you’re in class,” Torres said. “It affects your ability to concentrate and your ability to retain information. Sleep is probably one of the most important things that anybody would need to make sure they had enough of.”
However, students frequently use their phones as alarms but also as their primary method of communication, and when students bring this technology into the bedroom, the potential for sleep disruption increases.
“If you get a text at 3 in the morning and it wakes you up after you’ve fallen asleep, that’s going to affect how much sleep you’re going to get,” Torres said. “We’re so driven by technology and it’s very hard to separate ourselves from that.”
Photo illustration by Alex McDougall/Emerald