Could Phones Protect Sleep?

Apple and Amazon have recently announced plans to make their devices less damaging to sleep.

16:39 18 January 2016

A researcher, Prof Paul Gringras, has previously published a study presenting evidence that smartphones and tablets damage the body’s ability to sleep as they produce large amounts of bright, blue-spectrum light that disturbs the production of sleep hormone melatonin.

 

The study, which was published in Frontiers in Public Health, showed that there was a clear trend for each new generation of tablet and smartphone to be bigger, brighter and emit more blue light.

 

Apple and Amazon have since responded by announcing plans to make their devices less damaging to sleep.

 

Apple confirmed that its next iOS update will include a “Night Shift” mode that “may even help you get a good night’s sleep.”

 

Meanwhile, Amazon, which recently introduced “Blue Shade” to its Fire tablet range, has acknowledged that "evening exposure to blue light from tablets may suppress our bodies' production of melatonin, which can prolong the time it takes to fall asleep, delay REM sleep, and reduce the level of alertness the next morning".

 

Prof Gringras, from the Evelina Children's Hospital in London, told the BBC: "I'd like to think we're part of the tipping point.

 

"This will have a small impact, but on a unbelievably huge number of people, by baking it into the devices it will become part of the way they are used.

"It's an incredibly welcome move, it's fantastic, although it's late it is to be applauded and it will become a natural way for people to use tablets."