Nowadays, mobile phones have become a necessity in our lives, and they are the "sleeping pills" for many people before going to bed. Lying on the bed, holding a mobile phone in his hand, scrolling through Weibo, watching Douyin, playing games, as if the whole world is in this small screen.
However, have you ever thought that this seemingly innocuous habit may be quietly eroding your health?
1. The phenomenon and impact of playing with mobile phones before going to bed
According to a survey of sleep data of more than 2,000 people, 78% of subjects took 1 hour to fall asleep after playing with their mobile phones.
This phenomenon is known as "revenge sleep procrastination" and means that these people are procrastinating on sleep and doing seemingly unimportant things like playing on their phones. This shows that they are not doing a good job of work-life balance.
More seriously, this seemingly innocuous habit can have serious effects on your health. Studies have shown that it only takes about 8 minutes of blue light exposure for light-sensing optic nerve cells to be activated, allowing the body to remain in a state of excitement for more than an hour, which can cause our biological clock to be out of balance.
This means that the moment you play with your phone, your brain is activated and enters a state of high excitement, which can make it harder for you to fall asleep and even affect the quality of your sleep.
2. Effect on vision
You may think that I play with my phone just to relax, how can it affect my eyesight? However, the truth may not be as simple as you think.
First of all, you need to know that the phone screen emits blue light. This blue light is harmful to our eyes. It can directly irritate our retina, and in the long run, it may cause retinal damage and even cause some serious eye diseases.
For example, there is a retiree who often uses his mobile phone before bed because he has insomnia at night. As a result, her vision gradually deteriorated, and she was eventually diagnosed with angle-closure glaucoma in both eyes.
In addition, staring at the mobile phone screen for a long time will also make the ciliary muscle of the eye in a state of tension for a long time, resulting in eye fatigue and even blurred vision. If you like to look at your phone with the lights off, then your eyes may be more damaged.
Because in a dark environment, a person's pupils dilate in order to receive more light. At this time, if you look at your phone, then the strong light emitted by the phone screen will hit your retina directly, causing more damage to your eyes.
3. Effect on skin and appearance
The blue light emitted by a mobile phone screen is not only harmful to the eyes, but also to the skin. Blue light penetrates the top layer of the skin and reaches the dermis, affecting the skin's collagen and elastin synthesis.
These two proteins are important components for maintaining skin elasticity and firmness, and once damaged, the skin will become saggy, rough, pores will become larger, and even wrinkles will appear.
In addition, blue light can also affect the pigmentation of the skin. Studies have found that skin that has been exposed to blue light for a long time has a more severe degree of pigmentation than ordinary skin. This means that your skin may become dull and even appear dark spots from playing on your phone.
What's even more terrifying is that blue light may also affect your appearance. What you may not know is that there is a close relationship between a person's appearance and the quality of sleep. When your sleep quality is affected, your skin will also lose its radiance and even develop problems such as dark circles, eye bags, etc.
You may find that you look older than you really are, and that's because you play with your phone before bed, which leads to a decrease in sleep quality and affects your appearance.
4. Effects on the brain and sleep
The blue light emitted by the screen of the mobile phone stimulates the brain and puts it into a state of excitement. This means that when you play with your phone before bed, your brain is not in a resting state, but in a state of high euphoria. Not only will this make it harder for you to fall asleep, but it may also affect the quality of your sleep.
According to research, playing with mobile phones before bed may reduce REM periods by 14% of total sleep, and it takes at least 1 hour to fall asleep after use.
REM is the deep sleep phase of our sleep process and is an important stage for our brain and body to repair and recover. If this phase is cut, then your brain and body will not be able to get adequate rest and recovery.
In addition, mobile phone use can also lead to a number of other health problems. For example, you may have neck pain, stiff shoulders, and other problems due to looking down at your phone for long periods of time. You may also experience problems such as finger pain and arthritis due to prolonged finger movements.
So, while playing on your phone before bed may seem like a way to relax, in fact, it may be quietly eroding your health.
As a result of this habit, you may experience vision problems, skin problems, sleep problems, and even affect your appearance. For the sake of our health, we should try to avoid playing with our phones before going to bed.
5. Impact on mental health
Playing on your phone before bed is not only a threat to your physical health, but it also has an impact on your mental health. The information on the phone screen is full of all kinds of stress and anxiety, whether it is work emails, social messages, or various news reports, which can make people feel nervous and anxious.
In this case, your brain is constantly in a state of stress, which not only affects the quality of your sleep, but can also lead to some psychological problems.
According to research by the American Psychological Association, individuals who use mobile phones frequently are more likely to suffer from mental health issues such as depression and anxiety.
This is due to the fact that using a mobile phone before bed causes the brain to constantly receive information that keeps it in a state of constant stress. In this state, the brain does not get enough rest, which can cause various mental health problems.
6. Impact on interpersonal relationships
As you may have noticed, people are becoming more and more reliant on their phones, and even check their phones frequently when interacting with people.
This phenomenon is even more pronounced before bedtime, when many people play with their phones before bedtime and neglect communication with family and friends. Not only will this affect your social life, but it may also have an impact on your relationships.
According to a study, people who use their phones excessively tend to have lower quality of relationships. This is because, when you are overly dependent on your phone, you may neglect your family, friends, or even your partner. This can lead to problems in your relationships.
summary
Playing with your phone before bed, a seemingly innocuous habit, may actually be quietly eroding your health. It can affect your vision, skin, sleep, and even affect your mental health and relationships.
So, for the sake of our health, we should try to avoid playing with our phones before going to bed.