Sleep Deprivation: Your Brain, Spine & Overall Health

Here is an excerpt taken from mercola.com documenting what we know about sleep deprivation, the effect it is having on us and our children and the larger role that technology is playing than we originally thought. The kicker in this article is that it actually the cumulative amount of time you spend using technology not just the time you use it before going to bed.

Any time children are stuck on technology they are also slumped over in a chair being deprived of quality active playtime adversely affecting their brain, sleep, posture and overall health.

Take the time to consider how chiropractic spinal alignment cam help to combat the effects of digital stress, a now unavoidable part of the modern day and age.

“Even Daytime Use of Technology Can Significantly Prevent Sleep, Especially Among Teens

People now get one to two hours less sleep each night, on average, compared to 60 years ago.9 A primary reason for this is the proliferation of electronics, which also allows us to work (and play) later than ever before.

According to recent research, teens in particular may have difficulty falling asleep if they spend too much time using electronic devices—even if their use of technology is restricted to daytime hours! As reported by the Huffington Post:10

“The cumulative amount of screen time a teen gets throughout the day — not just before bedtime — affects how long they sleep, according to the study11…

‘One of the surprising aspects was the very clear dose-response associations,’ said the study’s lead researcher Mari Hysing… ‘The longer their screen time, the shorter their sleep duration.’”

Boys spent more time using game consoles, while girls favored smartphones and MP3 music players, but regardless of the type of device, the effect on sleep was the same. The researchers found that:

• Using an electronic device within one hour of bedtime resulted in spending more than an hour tossing and turning before falling asleep
• Using electronics for four hours during the day resulted in a 49 percent increased risk of needing more than one hour to fall asleep, compared to those who used electronics for less than four hours total
• Those who used any device for more than two hours per day were 20 percent more likely to need more than an hour to fall asleep, compared to those whose usage was less than two hours
• Those who spent  more than two hours online were more than three times as likely to sleep less than five hours compared to their peers who spent less time online.”

Aside from sleep deprivation it goes without saying that the cumulative effects of screen time on the spine should not be overlooked. As it becomes more common place to spend increasing hours on digital devices the new common slowly becomes normal. That is when the most serious part of the problem penetrates our lives and health because we all start to forget how big an issue it is and accept the consequences as a normal part of day to day life. I wish I had a dollar for every time a client said to me something like, ” Don’t worry about that, it hurts all the time, I just need you to focus on….” There is nothing normal about daily aches and pains. Actually there is nothing normal about poor posture even if it doesn’t hurt right now. Our advice at Better Health is get your spine checked today to avoid a problem tomorrow. Call us on 02 9518 0722 to book your appointment.

Yours in Better Health,