Does Using Your Phone Really Hurt Your Sleep?

You've probably heard that some types of light, like the kind that comes from your phone or laptop, can be bad for your sleep if you use them too close to bedtime. But let's be real, nighttime is the best time to binge TV, so are we really ruining our sleep patterns, and is there anything we can do to fix it?

Hosted by: Hank Green

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[ZEbelgiumfreak]

Me at 3AM: "Does using your phone really hurt your sleep"

[biblicallyaccurateangel]

“from depression to cancer” well that explains it

[weissquaeul]

me in the middle of the night: maybe I'll watch a youtube video or 2 before going to sleep
*this video comes up*
me: *watches with guilt*

[Brainstorm]

How do you know I was watching the great British bake off? Scary

[akamemurasame]

yes i know because im on my phone still watching yt and havent slept and its already morning, id say this is a wake up call but im aboutta go to sleep

[anthonyjackson]

I don't have to watch this video to know that the answer for me is a solid yes

[harshsinghal]

It's not just about the blue light it emits. I'll explain how it affects your sleep. There is no research needed for this simple thing.
When we go to bed and try to sleep, there are already a lot of thoughts rushing through our brain. And after some time those thoughts naturally stop coming and slowly we fall asleep. Now suppose that we've just used our phone and now we are trying to sleep. Naturally some thoughts related to our phone will come to our mind and if we sleep with our phone just on the other side of the bed, there are high chances that we will pick it up again. We tend to do this repeatedly and we don't realize that a lot of time has already passed and in this way our sleep pattern slowly starts disrupting. I can tell this with confidence because I've experienced all of this myself. But what I do now is that I keep my phone and laptop in another room for the night so that I can have a sound sleep.
Sorry if there are some grammatical mistakes and/or wrong choice of words in this comment. English isn't my first language. Comment is already a little long now but I want to write more so I think that I am writing gibberish now. OK. Stopping.

[anevenbluerjay]

You guys just keep getting better and better at seguing into promotional stuff

[laser]

2 anecdotes:
1) I started using a blue light filter because I had issues sleeping and I've only had problems with sleeping when I forget to use it since

2) spent a month in the bush (no electricity) and was tired very quickly after sundown (even if we were still doing stuff)

[joshuanorman]

Here I am at midnight hoping he's going to say that it isn't harming my sleep

[Asdfghjkl-lsor]

Going to sleep after watching this video hmm

[sebastianelytron]

I can only sleep after I've checked all my notifications.

[mirmubasher]

Watching this at 2AM when I have an exam tomorrow.

[JosephFuller]

It was hurting my sleep patterns, *and more*; so I got rid of my smart phone. Since then my depression has largely been resolved, I have more energy, better sleep and an overall better quality of health; mental and physical. One person I know, she puts her phone in a locked drawer around 9pm and does not go near it until she is ready to go to work; the act of disconnecting has really helped her a lot too.

[biaroca]

You know, I'm really anxious, and watching some videos on YouTube (including Scishow) makes me sleep faster because otherwise I keep thinking of stuff that makes me nervous /anxious and then I can't sleep.
Also: blue filter software may not improve sleep but it sure reduces eye strain.

[Spicy_Riker]

I can only sleep after I watched hardcore gardening on my phone!

[maddie]

"Does Using Your Phone Really Hurt Your Sleep?" is a bit of an ironic video to be watching in bed, on my phone, at 11 at night, right before I go to sleep.

[AkosSam]

Dammit Hank! It's midnight and this video's blue light is messing with my sleep! Meh, who am I kidding? I wasn't going to sleep that early anyway...

[Ikajo]

Stuff like this is somehow never studied in regions with seasonal changes in daylight. In the middle of December where I live, it is completely dark at four o' clock in the afternoon. And in summer, it is barely dark at all.

[HiddenLunarWings]

Using the blue light filter on my laptop helped my sleep immensely. It may not help other people, but everyone should absolutely try it. It makes your computer look a bit weird at first, but you almost immediately get used to the redder shades in a couple minutes.