Sleep in America 2011: Sleep & Technology

The powerful technology that keeps us connected, entertained and informed is deeply engrained in our lives and our culture. We carry around phones as powerful as personal computers, a movie about Facebook almost won the Oscars and every new Apple product announcement is celebrated like a national holiday. We can – and often do – spend the entire day in front of a screen, using a desktop computer at work all day, an iPhone on the commute or at the gym and a tablet or e-reader at home.

So maybe we’re overdoing it with all these gadgets. For all of the societal benefits, there are some drawbacks. We’re less active and we’re getting fatter. Our children face the threat of bullying online as well as the schoolyard. And our many devices are keeping us from getting enough sleep each night.

Sleep problems related to technology have been a recurring topic on Sleep Education Blog. This year, the annual Sleep in America Poll also focused on technology and sleep. The National Sleep Foundation released the results of its 2011 Sleep in America Poll earlier this week.

The findings are no surprise - Americans are using technology before bedtime and they’re not getting enough sleep. Out of the more than 1,500 people surveyed, 95 percent use some type of electronic device within an hour of going to bed at least a few times a week.

Results show 43 percent of Americans rarely sleep well on weeknights and 60 percent regularly have insomnia, snore or wake up un-refreshed in the morning. Nearly two-thirds admit to sleeping less than the recommended 7-8 hours per night. About 15 percent of adults and 7 percent of children are seriously sleep deprived – logging less than six hours of sleep during the week.

Technology use and sleepiness is generational, as the 2011 Sleep in America Poll demonstrates. Millennials are more connected than their parents. Older generations watch more television while younger generations prefer the interactivity of video games, computers or mobile devices.

Younger generations are also sleepier, the poll reports. About 1 in 5 millenials rated themselves as sleepy using the Epworth Sleepiness Scale compared to only about 1 in 10 baby boomers and generation x’ers.

Sleep changes as you age. Teenagers and young adults may have difficulty falling asleep in the early evening because their circadian rhythms prefer the night. Early start times for school or work leave almost no time for natural night-types to sleep.

Older people have their own sleep problems. The National Institute on Aging reports that older adults may produce and secrete less of the sleep-promoting hormone melatonin and as a result may get less sleep, sleep less deeply and wake up more throughout the night.

Every generation copes with sleeplessness in the same way, poll findings show. All age groups use caffeine and naps to fight fatigue. Many of the participants openly admitted that sleep deprivation affects their work, their sex lives and their ability to drive safely.

If you fit in these statistics, you might want to make some changes to your sleep hygiene. Schedule a nightly wind-down time away from the screen. Turn off your television or computer 30 minutes earlier each night and do some light chores, read a book or even a Kindle.

If a sleep disorder is keeping you from getting the rest your need, contact an AASM-accredited sleep center for help.

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Energy Pods let Google Employees Snooze in Style

Here’s one big reason why Google is consistently near the top of every annual “Best Companies to Work For” list. Among the many well-documented perks of working for Google is the leeway to step away from the desk and take a nap. Google stands out from the other companies with nap rooms by offering a stylistically futuristic sleep pod right out of the show Caprica.

That oversized salon hair dryer you see above is a state-of-the-art Energy Pod made by Metronaps. The reclining bed underneath the big white visor looks a lot like a dental chair.

Features include a built-in music player that produces soothing sounds and an alarm that wakes users up with a gentle combination of lights and vibration.

The Metronaps Energy Pod retails for around $8,000 - no small price, but still less expensive than ludicrously priced European luxury beds.

Google’s solution to workplace fatigue appears to be a preferable alternative to lunchtime car naps or sneaky catnaps in the bathroom stalls. It’s good to see the world’s most influential tech firm notice the building scientific evidence of the performance benefits of napping. Now if only more companies would adopt this practice maybe we’ll all stop looking down on workplace naps... I’m looking at you Ken Griffey Jr.

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iPad insomnia: Amazon Kindle better for your sleep than Apple tablet

With a nearly limitless library of books available for instant download, the Apple iPad is a tempting purchase for literature lovers.

There’s just one small deal-breaker: it’s bad for bedtime reading.

The device’s bright, colorful screen can get in the way of bedtime habits and encourage insomnia.

Over the weekend Frisca Yan-Go, director of the AASM certified UCLA Sleep Disorders Center, told the Los Angeles Times books won’t mess with your sleep cycle like the iPad.

“Light-emitting devices, including cell phones and yep, the iPad, tell the brain to stay alert. Because users hold those devices so close to their face, staring directly into the light, the effect is amplified compared with, say, a TV across the room or a bedside lamp, said Frisca Yan-Go, director of the UCLA Sleep Disorders Center in Santa Monica.”

So using the iPad as an eReader isn’t much different than using a laptop or watching TV in bed, both habits we recommend against.

eReaders like the Amazon Kindle, appear to be a better alternative because they don’t give off light. The gadgets e-paper, a Sony developed technology that imitates the printed page.

AASM member and UCLA Neurology Clinic Director Alon Avidan also cautioned against using electronic gadgets before bed in an email to the Los Angeles Times. He did say however, that the Kindle is better for your sleep.

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Twitter: Sleep & Tweets

You can learn a lot about a person in 140 characters or less. You can learn a lot about their sleep too.Twitter let’s you answer the question, “What’s happening?” The Web site at www.sleepingtime.org has responded by asking, “When do they sleep?”

The one-click site simply asks you to provide the username of a person who is on Twitter. Then in a second the site’s algorithm will analyze the timing of hundreds of that user’s tweets.

It will identify the time of day when the user is least active on Twitter. From this activity analysis it calculates the hours when the person is more likely to sleep.

The site was developed by Amit Agarwal, a personal technology columnist in India. He writes the Digital Inspiration blog and is on Twitter as @labnol.

So when does Amit sleep? According to sleepingtime, he typically gets about seven hours of shut-eye from 1 a.m. to 8 a.m. in the New Delhi time zone.

Amit also used the site to compile estimated sleep times for some “Tech Superstars.” For example, sleepingtime determined that Bill Gates is more likely to get eight hours of sleep from midnight to 8 a.m.

Last year the Sleep Education blog reported that there can be little time for White House staffers to sleep. What does sleepingtime say?

It reports that @whitehouse is more likely to sleep for eight hours from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. And @barackobama is more likely to sleep for seven hours between 1 a.m. and 8 a.m.

So it’s not an exact science. But if you use Twitter regularly, the site can give you a quick snapshot of your typical “sleep window.”

After all, you can’t tweet in your sleep. Or can you?

Episodes of sleepwalking can involve routine behaviors such as making phone calls. Last year a case report even described a woman who sent some strange e-mails while she was asleep.

But sleeptweeting? It’s possible. And it’s another good reason to keep your cell phone away from your bed at night.

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Sleep, Millennials & Cell Phones

The Pew Research Center has been studying American teens and twenty-somethings. This week it released a new report: “Millennials: A Portrait of Generation Next.”

The report is based on a survey of 2,020 U.S. adults. It included an oversample of 830 Millennials between the ages of 18 and 29 years.

It should come as no surprise that these young adults are surrounded by digital technology. The report calls them history’s first “always connected” generation.

“Steeped in digital technology and social media, they treat their multi-tasking hand-held gadgets almost like a body part,” stated the report.

The survey even asked: “Have you ever placed your cell phone on or right next to your bed while sleeping?” About 83 percent of Millennials reported sleeping next to their phones.

In January another report found that the percentage of students who owned a cell phone had increased from 39 percent to 66 percent. Is this technology affecting the sleep of Millennials?

Last year the Sleep Education Blog reported on recent studies. Research shows that frequent cell phone use may cause a number of sleep problems.

Read more about sleep and technology.

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College Students & Parents: Sleeping in Different Time Zones

Earlier this week Michelle Slatalla wrote in the New York Times about how her sleep was disrupted when her two older daughters came home from college for winter break.

The nocturnal habits that her daughters developed as teens had escalated. At 3 a.m. they texted, made phone calls, played video games and watched TV as if it were daytime.

“It seems as if my husband and I live in a completely different time zone from our children,” Slatalla lamented.

AASM secretary/treasurer Dr. Nancy Collop told Slatalla that these habits tend to reinforce a late-night schedule.

“There are lots of environmental issues that play a role in altering people’s sleep patterns,” said Collop. “The most obvious would be the computer.”

Light is an important timing cue for the brain. It is a signal that tells the brain it is time to be alert. Staring at a brightly lit computer screen at night sends a stimulating signal to the brain.

So will Slatalla ever see her children again?

Sleep researcher Mary Carskadon, PhD, told her not to worry. Their brains are still developing. So their sleep patterns are likely to shift as they get older.

“The brain tends to correct itself,” said Carskadon.

Image by nickestamp

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Less Time to Sleep for Media-Savvy Children & Teens?

A new report shows that children and teens are spending more time using media for entertainment. This increase is driven in large part by access to mobile devices.

The report was released by the Kaiser Family Foundation. It involved a 2009 survey of 2,002 students. They were in the 3rd to 12th grades. Their ages ranged from 8 to 18 years.

The study covered TV, movies, computers, video games, music/audio and print Results were compared with a 2004 survey.

Results show that students reported using entertainment media for more than 53 hours per week. Their average daily recreational media usage was seven hours and 38 minutes. This was an hour and 17 minutes more per day than in 2004.



In the past five years the percentage of students who owned a cell phone increased from 39 percent to 66 percent. Ownership of an iPod or other MP3 player increased from 18 percent to 76 percent.

Only about three in ten students reported that they have rules about how much time they can spend using entertainment media. Media usage dropped by nearly three hours per day when parents set limits.

Seventy-one percent of students reported that they have a TV in their bedroom. Fifty percent said they have a console video game player in their room.

“When children are spending this much time doing anything, we need to understand how it’s affecting them – for good and bad,” Drew Altman, PhD, said in a news release. He is the president and CEO of the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Last year the Sleep Education Blog reported that technology may be taking a toll on teens’ sleep. And studies have examined the relationship between TV viewing and sleep problems in children.

The AASM recommends that parents keep the TV and computer out of their teen’s bedroom. Parents also should set a “communication curfew” at night; set a time after which your teen can no longer talk on the phone or send text messages, instant messages or e-mails.

Learn more about teens and sleep loss on SleepEducation.com. Parents can get more tips for teen bed times.

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