5 Ways How Social Media Usage Disturbs Your Sleep Patterns
Social media has really simplified our life, right? Now, we can use it to consume content, conduct meetings, and even run an online business for a living. No doubts. However, social media does not have a good combination with sleep quality.
As per a study report, adults using social media for more than 5 hours have 2.79 times higher chances of poor sleep quality than those who limit social media usage to less than 2 hours. Read on to learn how social media usage can disrupt your sleep patterns.
Even though many users consider social media as a lullaby to close their eyes faster, the effect is actually the opposite. Smartphone usage before going to bed can have severe consequences for your sleep health. Check out five reasons why you should keep smartphones out of the bed:
Blue Light
Let’s start with the basics. How do we sleep? Scientifically, during nighttime, our pineal gland produces melatonin hormone due to darkness. Slowly, the hormone activates the sleep cycle in your brain.
The wavelength of light, especially blue light from smartphone devices, does the opposite. It is perfect for infusing productivity and staying focused in the daytime. However, things change after dark. Exposure to blue light while scrolling through social media at night signals to your brain that it’s day and disrupts melatonin production. As a result, you may find it difficult to fall asleep.
Notifications and Alerts
Remember, social media is working round-the-clock. Usually, users keep smartphones within a hand’s distance while sleeping for convenience. That means even if you doze off successfully, social media notifications and alerts can wake you up. Most users still don’t know how to use features like Do Not Disturb mode to deactivate the notifications during bedtime.
And simply turning off the notifications will not save you. Social media platforms can trigger various emotions in your brain, which can blow throughout the night. The fun, excitement, or depression mood swings may make your brain feel as if it’s daytime and keep you awake. As per stats, 21% of users wake up at night to check their smartphones.
In fact, social media platforms have been widely criticized for giving unlimited notifications to attract users.
Fear of Missing Out
FOMO is the fear of missing out on the enjoyment of others surrounding you, while staying disconnected. Social media users often feel an irresistible tendency to constantly check their feeds to get the latest updates on their friends and events. At even severe FOMO stages, they may even wait for a social media app notification.
The worst part about FOMO is that there’s no easy way out of it. Even if you manage to sleep on time, a feeling of guilt storms your subconscious mind to wake you up. Eventually, you may lose your sleep worrying about the interaction opportunities that you are missing out on.
Stress
Everybody wants to look perfect on social media, right? Well, viewing such a curated version of the idealized lives of friends and relatives can trigger a feeling of dissatisfaction among users, especially youth.
According to TruLaw, such an exaggerated presentation just makes the youth feel more inadequate. As a result, the users will set unrealistic expectations to keep up with society, which usually ends up in severe stress.
As awareness around these issues grows, social media addiction lawsuits are becoming more common than ever before. The addictive nature of these platforms causes harm to consumers to the extent of pushing them to file lawsuits.
Similarly, the number of people who earn a living through social media is also on the rise. Such users will be under strong pressure to reach their target likes and followers. If they fail to hit the target, normally stress catches them.
Mental health issues like stress always cast a negative shadow on sleep health. As per a report, 46% of people with poor sleep quality marked their mental health to be weak.
Cognitive Arousal
Social media platforms are designed to provide an endless flow of information to keep your brain engaged. Most content presents strong emotions, from excitement to anxiety. Such a powerful burst of emotions arouses your brain even if you try to take a rest.
And that’s not the end. Interestingly, several studies have reported a connection between increased social media usage and nightmares. The emotions that you have felt through social media may haunt your dreams, leading to poor sleep quality.
Many users view social media usage as a harmless habit. But in fact, prolonged usage, especially during nights, can disturb your sleep cycle. Loss of sleep can trigger various serious mental health issues like panic attacks, anxiety, insomnia, etc. Therefore, try to keep your smartphone out of your bed. Similarly, the next time you go to sleep, make sure to switch off not just your eyes, but also your social media notifications.
