14th January – reduce screen time before bed

Reduce screen time before bed.

💻📱🖥I was wondering why I have been finding it difficult to get to sleep for the last few nights, and then I realised that have fallen into a bad habit of working way too late in the evening. General practice is super busy at the moment, and on top of the normal work I have been working on a couple of projects which I am super excited about, and I am looking forward to being able to share them with you soon… but in the meantime I have fallen down a rabbit hole of spending lots of time trying to get everything done and juggle everything else as well, which means working late.

👩‍💻Screens emit light, which stimulate the suprachiasmic nucleus in the brain, suppresses melatonin production, and keeps us awake and delays sleep. Blue light is the most powerful at doing this, which is what a lot of screens emit. Some technology will automatically go into “night mode” and dim the screen and reduce blue light emission in the evenings, which does reduce the effect, but only partially – the screens are still bright enough to have a stimulating effect on our brain.

🙇🏼‍♀️And it’s not just the light, when our brains are working hard late at night, we don’t get that wind-down routine which allows our brains to switch off and prepare to sleep.

Ironically, having just written about not using screens in the evening, it’s probably way too late to be posting this! 🛌I am going to reset my bedtime routine habit from tomorrow.
And if you’re reading his post at the top of your feed then maybe think if it’s time to switch off for the evening? You can always pick it back up tomorrow.
🛌😴Night night.