Struggling With Sleep? Avoid These 7 Habits, Sleep Docs Say
This one may come as no surprise, but it’s still worth mentioning; Scrolling through social media, streaming movies on your laptop, and even watching TV before bed can all affect your circadian rhythm and melatonin production, due to the spectrum of blue light that screens give off.
As Harvard- and Yale-trained ER doctor and founder of The TrueveLab, Darria Long, M.D., previously suggested to mbg, “If you have trouble falling asleep, I tell people to turn off your devices for 60 to 90 minutes before bedtime.” Consider reading a physical book or listening to a bedtime story instead.
And if that’s not an option, at the very least, you can invest in some blue-light-blocking glasses or set up blue-light-reducing settings on your devices. Screens that are farther away, like TVs, tend to be less disruptive to the circadian rhythm than ones right in front of your face, like phones.