Were kindles and other smart pads, which can be set to take out blue light and dim when reading before bed, tested?
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What were the measured, quantified results? There is no data here. Not everyone is a blithering idiot who believes everything they read. Some of us actually want information. Would it kill this author to include it?
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Same goes for working on any kind of computer and exposure to any low wavelength (bluish) light. I'm a neuroscientist and the research I've seen on this is convincing. Wearing red-tinted glasses for a few hours before bedtime should eliminate the problem. There's also a computer application (Redshift) that adjusts the computer display's color according to the time of day. (Both make things look really weird.) Just because night-time light exposure is ubiquitous doesn't mean it's not a real problem.
Sometimes I wonder why the sleep experts don’t just ask me. I’ve been “reading myself to sleep” for many years — my way of avoiding insomnia, sleeping pills, etc. But we’re all aware of the reading-in-bed problems: light bothers partner; once sleepy, turning light off wakes you up; propping book up for side reading is awkward; falling asleep with light on leads to suboptimal sleep, etc.
The advent of the tablet was a sleep problem solver rather than a problem creator. Now I:
*sleep on side with iPad in a case that props itself up;
*read book (not the news!) that is mildly interesting but not exciting;
*invert colors so background is black, adjusting backlight to lowest possible setting;
*invoke night switch setting, lately available on IOS devices.
Fall asleep. iPad turns itself off. Zzzzzzzz
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Not a terribly well-designed study for one of the authors to be making such comments as quoted in the article. I did not see anyone mentioning the Apple Night Shift mode that shifts the screen away from the melatonin-blocking blue end of the spectrum from sunset to sunrise. Not that I know of any research that this really makes a difference.
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It's the same principle as watching TV before bed is disquieting, isn't it? That is, unlike print, which is a series of solidly blocked type, you're looking at millions of pixels flashing by, which is a lot for your eyes to process and thus stimulating. I have long made it a habit to pick up a BOOK before bed — the more difficult to read, the more exhausting it is (and exhausted I am). Right now it's Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. Reading and parsing a few pages, and I'm out!
I read the NYT every night before bed. I keep waiting for the app to offer a sepia or a white on black option for this very reason.
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I've not seen any real evidence that colour temperature on a display is the deciding factor. It may well be the difference is simply reflected versus transmitted light - the latter not being a natural factor in human vision. Animals, in general, I suggest, have had a danger response to transmitted light, which in most cases has meant fire or bright, harmful sun, for tens of thousands of years.
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There is a night mode on Android. Menu --> NYT Experiments --> Night Mode Beta
Google the Redshift app.
"when people used iPads instead of reading print, they selected a later bedtime and had a later sleep onset"
Here's the problem. Have the participants go to sleep at the same time with each method (print & electronic), then report the results. Perhaps what they read on the electronic device engaged them more, which caused them to "select" a later bedtime.
As a person with insomnia, I bought into what's reported here for awhile. But some days I work long hours and don't get to read the news. If I read it at night on my phone, but go to sleep at the precise same time (an essential part of my own insomnia-avoidance regimen) as all other nights, when I read a book, there is no difference in my sleep.
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I guess I shouldn’t be reading this article on my iPad right before going to bed.
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Interesting! Society is often slow to appreciate the side-effects associated with the status-quo. If you are concerned about how blue light might be affecting your sleep and health look into some blue light blocking glasses. My brother is an extremely hard working and talented entrepreneur and has a cost-effective and stylish option for you here! http://a.co/1tBt2nd
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The problem with these studies is that the proper control would be to compare IPad/smartphone use before bed with TV watching, which is extremely common before sleep. This was not done.
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Or computers! I've read previously that it is the very bright lighting of such devices that "wakes up" the brain (whereas reading has a boring, sleep-inducing effect".
I use my "old-school" style Kindle to read; no light at all. I need to use a light to read it just like for print books. I suspect this type of Kindle doesn't have the impacts on sleep described here but I'd love to see that clarified.
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Is it irony that I'm reading this article while in bed and on a ipad at 10:30 at night?
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yes
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Yet another reason to dump smartphones, tablets, and social media.
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Hardly. My phone is useful when I'm not at home to look up things, read email, etc. And, while I don't have many apps, the ones I have are invaluable, especially Flashlight. I don't have a tablet, but am writing this on a Mac laptop, which I depend on. And while social media is a time suck, Facebook is easier than other media to fine out important events in my friends' lives. Just not before bed!
Not much information in this article - kind of lighing on tablets, kind of reading material - crime, romances, etc., amount of screen time in the day otherwise, etc.
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I would also like to know if “ night mode” was used.
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The night mode is one thing but discipline is the other. It's too easy to keep going down the endless rabbit hole of linked articles and that gets to be overstimulating. Telling yourself to put it down while you still want to read works, if you can do it
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Just STOP with the devices: when driving, when walking, when eating, before bed. The solution is simple, why fight it?
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Nine people isn't exactly an overwhelming number to use as a yardstick .... and I would like to know how back-lit Kindles fare in such tests.
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I’m curious whether switching to a black background and white print when using the Kindle app makes any difference. It drastically reduces the overall light emitted. I use both that function and night mode on my iPhone.
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Audiobooks work even better.
Having a blue-light-blocking coating on your glasses (especially those worn after dark and when watching TV, which generally doesn't have a "night shift mode" option) can partly help the onslaught of blue-spectrum light at the wrong time of day. Also, taking melatonin an hour before bedtime helps boost the body's inadequate supply.
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Yes, but why take a drug/chemical when you can just avoid the technology in the first place?
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I wonder if reading on an Ereader that mimics prints has the same effects or is it really more like print?
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You mean like a Kindle Paperwhite? From what I read, they do not have the same effect because the screen itself does not have background light. Ever noticed how you can't read in the dark on these devices, unless you turn another light on?
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I recalled reading that the ones with e-ink do not have the same effect because they don't have the blue backlighting that tablets have. But I just Googled "Kindle e-ink sleep disruption" and found that most studies were done with the original Kindle, not the Paperwhite.
I read my Paperwhite in a completely dark bedroom with the device's lighting on a very, very low setting. I turn it down several times as my eyes adjust. It's very different from smartphone/tablet light, and I don't believe it affects my sleep adversely. But it would be nice to have a study confirm (or disprove) that impression.
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Not mentioned in the this article (can we assume it wasn't address in the study?) is using an ipad with the "night mode" turned on which removes much of the blue light spectrum which is thought to cause this issue.
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