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versus SLEEP TIME By Emily Devon. HEALTH SLEEP DISORDERS 87 SCREEN TIME In 2021, most people sleep beside their mobile device. A study conducted three years ago involving 815 young adults revealed that more than 12 per cent experienced smartphone activity in the middle of the night (three to five hours after their reported bedtime) and 41 per cent had smartphone-interrupted sleep on at least one weekday in a four-week period.1 The results show that those with frequent smartphone-interrupted sleep had on average 48 minutes’ shorter sleep duration.1 However, a mobile phone isn’t the only digital device people turn to before trying to get some shut eye. In a 2016 study, 52.1 per cent of those surveyed said they watched television in the hour before going to bed, every or almost every night of the week.2 While interrupted sleep due to technology seems to be most prevalent among young people, with the expansion of technology, it also impacts adults. Too much screen time too close to someone’s sleep time can have a negative impact on the type of sleep that person has. Screen time’s effect on sleep Sleep Health Foundation board member Professor Dorothy Bruck and TerryWhite Chemmart Chief Pharmacist Brenton Hart discuss with Retail Pharmacy the ways in which digital devices can interrupt sleeping patterns: Stimulation “Screens can be very stimulating,” Professor Bruck said. “Engagement with the internet is often a very stimulating thing, especially if people are playing games or chatting to their friends, and so any engaging activity like that isn’t going to prepare us for bed.” Mr Hart agrees that stimulation is a significant cause for someone’s sleeping pattern to be disturbed. “Stimulating content or activities can decrease sleepiness,” he said. Professor Bruck added: “Ideally, we should have a wind-down time of half an hour to an hour that actually helps us prepare to go to bed. To be on the computer with work or stimulating games, reading the news, listening to podcasts ... they’re all quite engaging activities and can make it hard to fall asleep after that.” Asked if over-stimulation affects a specific demographic, Professor Bruck says adults as well as younger people experience it. “It depends on the age and what they do,” she said. “We have this 24/7 work environment. A lot of people in white- TO PAGE 88 RETAIL PHARMACY • MAY 2021