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Experts have spoken, studies have been conducted, the results are in: screen time at night is bad for our sleep. The blue wavelengths of light from LED screens like those in our phones, laptops and tablets mess with our circadian rhythm by suppressing the body's release of melatonin, the hormone our body secretes as it gets dark in order to calm us and prepare us for sleep.
When we stare at these blue-lit screens at night time, our bodies don't release the needed amount of melatonin, but release cortisol -- the stress hormone -- instead, which keeps us awake. Neurologists who conducted studies on people who were exposed to blue-heavy lights before bedtime found that those people took far longer to fall asleep than those who were exposed to warmer light or light more evenly distributed across the color spectrum.
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[An] app [f.lux] for your desktop or laptop computer adjusts the color temperature of your monitor throughout the day to best mimic what type of light your eyes should be exposed to at those times. During daylight hours, the light is more blue-toned and similar to the bright daylight you would be exposed to outside, but as day turns to night, the monitor slowly goes warmer to match the indoor lights around you.
The article also mentions two other apps, Oyster and Twilight. Have any Soylentils used apps like these?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Ethanol-fueled on Thursday August 06 2015, @11:40PM
I have pretty shit sleeping even without the weed and booze so I take melatonin supplements to help me go to sleep. Problem is that you have to take them when you're really ready to go to sleep or else you get drowsy and then something exciting happens and you excite yourself right through that window where a little shutting off the computer and turning the ringer off would have put you to sleep in a few minutes. Alternately, you fall asleep when it starts kicking in, then you wake up 4 hours later and can't go back to sleep.
Thanks for running this story, because there are plenty of naive idiots like me who have been doing things wrong the whole time. Gonna give one of those applications a shot.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday August 07 2015, @12:34AM
I just recommended melatonin [wikipedia.org] today to someone who was complaining about their sleep meds. It's amazing how many people haven't heard of the natural hormone responsible for regulating your body's sleep cycle... and directly linked to levels of blue light and applications like f.lux. It's also cheap and over-the-counter almost everywhere, with basically no side effects... since you've been "taking it" all your life. It's effectiveness and/or production apparently decline with aging.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Friday August 07 2015, @01:00AM
I've tried it before with mixed results. I'll second Ethanol's opinion that you have to time it right.
Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
(Score: 2) by Translation Error on Friday August 07 2015, @02:51PM
(Score: 2) by kurenai.tsubasa on Friday August 07 2015, @03:37AM
Do you have experience with diphenhydramine HCl? How does it compare to melatonin? One of my trans friends has sleep problems (including night terrors) and takes diphenhydramine but complains that sometimes it leads to auditory hallucinations. I'd like to nudge her to a more natural supplement, but she's worried about screwing up yet another hormone system. I seem to be the local trans curendera of sorts so anything you might offer would help! (She wasn't very receptive to Amazon aromatherapy unfortunately.)
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Friday August 07 2015, @05:28PM
Diphenhydramine HCl is what's in my Allergy Medicine. It's an antihistamine, typically used to control things like allergies. Though, apparently it's also used in some sleeping pills. Which is news to me. Melatonin is naturally produced by your brain. http://www.drugs.com/melatonin.html/ [drugs.com] Has information on what things could interact with the man made Melatonin supplement. As is always the case, you really should consult your physician, before taking a new medication. That is highly applicable to anyone who is on any medication prescribed by a doctor.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 1) by Noldir on Friday August 07 2015, @05:52PM
I can tell you that I don't take medication containing Diphenhydramine HCl anymore. I have to chug down a double amount of caffeine just to stay awake trough the day..
(Score: 2) by kurenai.tsubasa on Friday August 07 2015, @10:15PM
In this case, proper medical care isn't available due to religious objection, which is what I meant by the curendera thing.
(Thanks, Obama! Most around here were fine with giving medical care to trans folks before Fox News started their hysteria with their “free Obamacare sex changes” thing. Either that, or having insurance is no longer a status symbol that can separate the hard working trans woman with a stable career from the HIV-infested welfare-funded man-in-a-dress prostitute! Or maybe they just think all trans women are communists and blame them for Obamacare [looking at you, Jennifer Finney Boylan and Brianna Wu!], while ignoring the preponderance of libertarian-minded trans women [here's a shout-out for Caitlyn Jenner!].)
I learned about curenderas—I hope I'm getting that term right—a little while back while being involved in an outreach program. Some Hispanics/Latinos don't trust mainstream hospitals. My impression was that it had to do with fear of being caught as (or presumed to be) an illegal alien as well as a reaction to general racism and, if I may invent a word, Spanishophobia. So, there are apparently a few curenderas around here that fill that void (not that I know any). But yes, an actual MD who was involved in the project did refer to them as “witch doctors.”
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday August 10 2015, @04:29PM
Assuming the person won't accept or can't get professional Medical Advice. Please note that there are more authoritative sources on the internet that you should take not of. Ideally they should see a medical professional. I am not a medical professional, but here's a few sites that I get general medical information from for my own knowledge. http://www.mayoclinic.org/patient-care-and-health-information/ [mayoclinic.org] Mayo Clinic is a fairly reputable source and I would say a very authoritative source. http://www.webmd.com/ [webmd.com] WebMD is more like wikipedia for health information, so not very authoratative. Though, both sites are 1 Million! times better than most random facebook posts.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Interesting) by juggs on Friday August 07 2015, @05:47AM
A 4 hour sleep phase fits in with theories about "Segmented sleep", or "Bimodal sleep". (Quoted terms can be used for searching).
Basically, the theory is we naturally have a night time sleep pattern that involves ~4 hours asleep followed by ~1 - 2 hours of wakefulness followed by another ~4 hour sleep. That went out the window with the Industrial Revolution that detached the need for activity (work) from the natural day, particularly in places with a higher latitude where winter months bring shorter daylight hours.
I need to read more in depth on it.... would be interesting to compare historical sleep patterns of those located around the equator with those located nearer the poles e.g. "night time sleep pattern" can't logically hold true if it is permanently dark for 3 months of the year and the pattern is driven solely by sunlight.
Interesting subject :)