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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 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 :)