Several studies have shown that the light emitting from the screens we are constantly looking at can have an effect on our health and sleep patterns.
Blue light in particular has been linked to sleep deprivation, age-related blindness and even some forms of cancer.
As research into blue light and its effects continues, new findings presented at the European Society of Endocrinology have shown that the negative effects that screens have on the sleep of teenagers can be alleviated after even just one week of reduced exposure.
“Adolescents increasingly spend more time on devices with screens and sleep complaints are frequent in this age group. Here we show very simply that these sleep complaints can be easily reversed by minimising evening screen use or exposure to blue light,” says co-author Dirk Jan Stenvers from the department of Endocrinology and Metabolism at the university of Amsterdam.
Amsterdam UMC conducted the study along with the Netherlands Institute of Neuroscience and the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment. The researchers compared the sleep patterns of adolescents who used screens for four hours per day with those who only had one hour of screen time per day.
A trial group was also asked to abstain from using screens during the evening to see whether their sleep patterns changed after a sustained period.
The results showed that the more screen exposure the adolescents had, the more symptoms of sleep deprivation or sleep loss they had. However, the group who abstained from screens in the evenings showed an improvement in their symptoms within just one week.
“Sleep disturbances start with minor symptoms of tiredness and poor concentration but in the long term we know that sleep loss is associated with increased risk of obesity, diabetes and heart disease,” says Stenvers, which is why he and his team plan to continue to study the effects of screen use on both adolescents and adults.
There are things you can do to contain your own blue light exposure, and device manufacturers are on the case. Many devices have blue light filters that can be activated very easily. – dpa
