Do you go to bed at a reasonable hour, but don’t get to sleep until much later because you’re glued to your phone? Millions of us lay in bed, scrolling through TikTok, Instagram and Twitter, a habit that’s been dubbed “doom scrolling.” It’s not only keeping us from much needed sleep, it could be causing serious damage, according to one sleep expert.
Rachel Beard, a sleep wellness manager, explains that doom scrolling doesn’t just leave you tired the next day, it could negatively impact memory, information retention and mental health. But she says people who doom scroll night after night aren’t entirely to blame because these social media sites are “designed to attract you onto the app and then hold you there.” So we spend more time than we’d like to admit scrolling, then wake up tired the next day, and by the time we go to bed that night, we feel like we deserve some “me time” and the cycle continues.
The content on the sites we’re viewing can stimulate our brains, so we don’t wind down properly to get ready to sleep, plus, the blue light from our devices also tricks our brains into thinking it’s time to be awake. No one wants to hear this, but putting down the phone at bedtime is the first step to preparing for a good night’s sleep. Beard recommends doom scrollers try a new bedtime routine starting an hour, or even half an hour, before sleep and disengage from technology during that time to help them fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer.
Source: NY Post