Insomnia, Late Nights and Blue Lights

Whatever visions the words blue and late night may have conjured in your mind before, we now know that blue can keep us up late into the night.

A recent Chicago Tribune article sets forth medical evidence from the AMA, Harvard and Stanford, about sleep disorders for those addicted to late night use of tablets, laptops and smart phone devices.

Apparently, this new evidence points to the fact that ‘melatonin’, a naturally produced hormone in our body that helps us regulate sleep, is not sufficiently produced because the late night use of our electronic devices fools our body into thinking it is daytime and, therefore, inhibits the melatonin and creates sleep disorders. This regulation, or deregulation, of melatonin, occurs via light-sensitive cells in the eye which contain a photopigment called melanopsin which, apparently, is particularly sensitive to blue light.

So, in addition to an over-worked society, we have created a generation of electronic users who inadvertently have begun to fool their bodies into believing night is day.

Cancer from excessive cell phone use? Now sleep deprivation from late night use of PDA’a, tablets and other similar devices.

Enough is enough. Your email will wait for the morning.

Go to sleep!