The picture you see here of a woman's face illuminated in the dark by the "moon tan" glow of the LED screen of her smartphone is you. Well, not literally you, but allegorically you, and I, and all of us. Call it a first-world problem if you want, but there's a growing realization of two related problems: first, we can't put these lovely little devices down for nearly anything, and second -- we're not getting enough sleep, and when we do it isn't good. This Pointers, which you should read in the morning, will help.
The picture above is in fact a little inaccurate: if you were to see what that really looks like it would be a deathly blueish light that makes you look like a character from
Zootopia that sudden found themselves in the movie
Frozen. Research on this phenomenon is pouring in, and here's what it says: warnings about looking at bright blueish screens before bed generally get ignored, and they really are making it harder to fall asleep and harder to get enough good-quality sleep.
I'm a living test model for this, and until I took some steps to correct it, it was indeed an issue: my primary way of relaxing before bed was to read an e-book, or play a game, maybe watch an episode of a TV show, or just surf around -- mostly, on my iPad or iPhone. Sometimes, I'll be working late on the site, with a giant 24-inch monitor and a second 13-inch screen showing me with gamma goodness. These activities directly caused me to notoriously stay up much later than I should, sometimes working through the night and on into my usual shift, which would result in much slower work with less energy until finally, 24 or so hours later, I just couldn't focus any longer.
Not me, except metaphorically
I've had issues with insomnia my whole life; I've always loved the night for its peace and quiet, and often worked night shift when I could because I was so much more productive and focused. When I switched to day shift, I really struggled for the first few weeks, and I still don't feel I'm hitting my stride for the first hour (now I understand why people drink so much coffee and energy drinks and such -- they are covering up the problem because they have to).
Step 1: Admit you have a problem
The computer activities I was engaging in, though relaxing and enjoyable, were also overstimulating my brain -- which led to more computer activities, or TV watching -- something, anything, with a bright screen against the night. Eventually I read some medical advice somewhere that said to impose a limit on yourself of no bright screen devices for two hours before bed. Your brain reacts to the blue light (and the brightness) and kicks back into gear, what a lot people call a "second wind."
If you are one of those people who already has trouble shutting the brain down anyway, playing with the computer may seem like a help because you feel more relaxed, but then you try to go to bed, and of course suddenly your mind is flooding with ideas. When I tried the self-imposed ban on TV and computer-y devices for two hours before bed, the impact (ironically measured by another free app on my iPhone called
Sleep Cycle) was dramatic: I would fall asleep much faster.
We joked about it and said we were "going Amish" before bed, but the blue-light ban wasn't a complete cure. It definitely helped, but some days I was still restless and not ready to go to bed at the usual time -- working late was most likely the culprit, but then I had to find something to do for two hours that didn't involve computers or screens until I could then go to bed. This wasn't really working for me, and I knew I would eventually have to return to night-time computing and relaxing or reading.
Scientists and doctors continue to advise that we turn off the screens a couple of hours before bed, but often this is difficult to achieve. One day, however, when looking for a trial of the web development program Flux, I accidentally found
f.lux (not the slight difference in the name). It's a free app for the Mac that does something interesting with your hardware: after sunset local time (or on a similar schedule you set), it begins slowly eliminating the blue light out of your display. To someone not staring at it all the time, it looks all orange and broken, and you'll notice it too at first; but after a while, you won't. At least, not until you've stayed up so late your display is more orange than Donald Trump.
As you go on, the screen loses more and more of its blue color until it's positively sepia, but here's a funny thing: your eyes don't hurt like they did when you worked too long without f.lux. Turns out the lessening of the blue light of LED screen won't just help you get to sleep faster; it also helps prevent eye strain. You thought you were relaxing before, posting to Facebook a minute prior to going to bed, but you eyes were struggling. With f.lux, they relax -- and this helps your body relax, which in turn helps you sleep. It really does make a difference, though it can't be called a panacea. So get f.lux already.
My blue period
Of course, you are already thinking, changing the Mac sounds great, but my problem is my iPhone or iPad -- it's a great tool for doing little things, or just passively reading/watching things before bed -- or in bed. It's true, f.lux will do nothing for that. The developers tried to offer a version f.lux for iOS, but Apple rejected it, because third-party developers cannot access low-level hardware like that on the iOS platform (as some other developers found out after sneaking a similar app through).
Blanket fort FTW
Apparently, however, Apple recognized the issue, and the burgeoning research, and took matters into their own hands. The result is a forthcoming feature that may arrive next week; it's called Night Shift. Night Shift isn't quite the same as f.lux, because it's not made by the same people -- at present, it follows a strict "sunset to sunrise" pattern of de-blueing your iOS device's display, rather than some of the customization and color tuning f.lux offers.
Like f.lux, it's also not a paid app, it's part and parcel of the upcoming iOS 9.3, and though it is not on by default it is included in that version's system preferences, and there's a switch to turn it on (or off if needed) from the Control Center in iOS. You can't have it yet (unless you've registered as a public beta tester, or are a developer), but take it from someone who's been testing it: even in its role as a sort of "f.lux junior," it's made a difference.
Like you, my problem was that even if I'd been a good boy and turned off the computer two hours before bed (or been using f.lux and still using it), the minute I got into bed I would reach for the iPhone to check tomorrow's schedule or make sure the alarm was set, or I would reach for the iPad to do "a quick little thing" I'd forgotten to do earlier, like price out airline flights. So all my good behavior was cancelled out with a relatively short period of basking in that blueish glow for a time literally
just before I tried going to sleep.
Night Shift allows me to do those "quick" little jobs before bed, but I'm back to falling asleep more quickly and sleeping more deeply. I find that what works best, though, really is putting the devices away for the day and doing something else -- listening to soft music or a little reading (actual books this time) in not-too-strong light. Even -- and this is really tough for the couch-potato or desk-bound people -- a little light exercise. Even just a quick walk around the block before the usual night-time rituals (assuming this is safe for you to do) will make a noticeable change in how quickly and deeply you sleep, and you can use apps like Sleep Cycle to document this.
It's not a sure-fire cure for better sleep, but it's better than a bottle of Zyquil on your nightstand, or getting to the point where the morning shift at Starbucks knows you and your preferred blend by name. While you can't get Night Shift just yet, try it out using f.lux on the Mac, and try your best to swear off using your iPhone or iPad (barring emergencies) for a couple of hours before bed.
At least until iOS 9.3 comes out.
-- Charles Martin
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