Sleep and Your Screens, Not Friends
How Technology Has Altered Sleep Through the Ages
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
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Computer screens are calibrated to mimic daylight.
As a result, their blue light can trick your body into being more
awake, even in the middle of the night.
(PurpleMattFish/flickr)
We don't sleep like nature intended and technology is to
blame. From the gaslight to the smartphone, technological innovation has
been knocking the human rhythm out of sync with nature.
We wake up to an alarm clock. Computer screens calibrated for high contrast tell our eyes it is high noon all night long. Heaters and air conditioners stave off the chill of evening and the baking heat of afternoon sunshine. All the cues our bodies look for about when to rest and when to wake are being intentionally muted by machines that we've built.
Our bodies are confused! As a result we’re missing out on true wakefulness and, in the process, creativity that sprouts from a brain that is truly rested.
This episode of the New Tech City podcast explores how technology has changed sleep through the ages, specifically through artificial light. Hear, historian Roger Ekirch and psychiatrist Tom Wehr explain how they each discovered the natural segmented sleep pattern our bodies want to revert but can't because of modern schedules. Plus, we learn what actually happens to our brains when we do return to the ancient way of sleeping. "People would sometimes say they felt a kind of crystal clear consciousness when they were awake that was not familiar to them. And it made me wonder if any of us knows what it’s really like to be awake — fully awake,” Wehr says.
And even though technology is the problem, it can also be the solution as the inventors of an app that alters artificial light f.lux explain, "You have people that are using their phones as alarm clocks, people who are checking their phones all night long to make sure they’re not getting a critical message from work. And every time you get that hit of light, it’s like a hit of espresso, and we’d like to fix that for everybody.”
The sleep revelations in this episode might be a wake-up call to creative types and techies who pride themselves on powering through drowsiness. There is another path to the next big idea. You’ll sleep better after listening to this one.
If you liked this episode, why not subscribe to New Tech City on iTunes and follow us on Twitter.
We wake up to an alarm clock. Computer screens calibrated for high contrast tell our eyes it is high noon all night long. Heaters and air conditioners stave off the chill of evening and the baking heat of afternoon sunshine. All the cues our bodies look for about when to rest and when to wake are being intentionally muted by machines that we've built.
Our bodies are confused! As a result we’re missing out on true wakefulness and, in the process, creativity that sprouts from a brain that is truly rested.
This episode of the New Tech City podcast explores how technology has changed sleep through the ages, specifically through artificial light. Hear, historian Roger Ekirch and psychiatrist Tom Wehr explain how they each discovered the natural segmented sleep pattern our bodies want to revert but can't because of modern schedules. Plus, we learn what actually happens to our brains when we do return to the ancient way of sleeping. "People would sometimes say they felt a kind of crystal clear consciousness when they were awake that was not familiar to them. And it made me wonder if any of us knows what it’s really like to be awake — fully awake,” Wehr says.
And even though technology is the problem, it can also be the solution as the inventors of an app that alters artificial light f.lux explain, "You have people that are using their phones as alarm clocks, people who are checking their phones all night long to make sure they’re not getting a critical message from work. And every time you get that hit of light, it’s like a hit of espresso, and we’d like to fix that for everybody.”
The sleep revelations in this episode might be a wake-up call to creative types and techies who pride themselves on powering through drowsiness. There is another path to the next big idea. You’ll sleep better after listening to this one.
If you liked this episode, why not subscribe to New Tech City on iTunes and follow us on Twitter.
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