Those
who read from electronic devices can have shorter REM sleep, the stage
in which memories are consolidated and the brain refreshes it self.
Books V. Tablets: Which Is Better For Reading Before Bed?
If reading is your way of easing into sleep, pick up a printed book instead of a digital one
ti.me
There’s nothing wrong with settling down with a good book at the end
of day to melt away tension and help you to unwind. But if you’re
picking up an e-reader or a tablet, then you’re doing it all wrong.
That’s
what Anne-Marie Chang, associate professor of biobehavioral health at
Penn State University, and her colleagues found when they compared
digital readers with the printed word. Reporting in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
they say that people who use the electronic devices such as an iPad had
more disrupted sleep patterns and were more tired the next morning than
those who read from traditional books.
Chang, who conducted the study while at Brigham and Women’s Hospital,
designed the trial to be as objective as possible. What Chang found was
a marked difference between each participant’s sleep patterns and
alertness depending on whether they read from a digital reader or from a
book. When they read from an iPad, their evening levels of melatonin
failed to drop as much as they should, while they remained at expected
levels when they read from a book. That led to a delay in body’s
biological signal to go so sleep of about an hour and a half, making the
participants more alert and therefore not ready for bed.
And when the scientists looked at their sleep patterns, they found
that the differences went even deeper. When the volunteers read from
electronic devices, they had shorter REM sleep, the stage in which
memories are consolidated and the brain refreshes itself, than when they
read from printed books. This occurred even though the volunteers slept
for the same amount of time, eight hours, every night.
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