Kane Dane
Sufficient good quality sleep every night helps us to live comfortable, productive, and relaxed lives. It helps us to be at our best at work and helps us to manage our emotions positively. Insufficient good quality sleep or less sleep can harm our mental and physical health. Sleep deprivation reduces immunity and makes people vulnerable to catching illnesses like, flu, digestive disorders more frequently, which can add to mental stress and ruin your career prospects.
We often come across the piece of information that says technology is bad for our sleep health. Constant use of blue light-emitting screen gadgets delays your sleep and spoils your circadian rhythm which is not good for your sleep health. Another problem that too much use of technology brings in is information overload, constant information pouring in from social media, news and other entertainment websites can increase your anxiety and add to your stress levels. As we know stress and anxiety are for sleep killers.
Even though in some ways technology can promote sleep disorders, it can help us to conquer them as well as help in improving our sleep experience and sleep health. Technology can be both good and bad, it depends how we use it.
Here are some of the ways that technology can help us sleep better.
How Technology Can Help Us Sleep Better?
- Buying Mattresses Online
Technology has helped us to explore all the innovations in mattress technology and we can order a mattress online. Mattress manufacturers provide “bed-in-a-box” solutions with trial periods which makes buying a new mattress easy for customers.
Earlier customers used to be dependent on word of the mouth or what salesperson in mattress stores had to say about the brand and mattress options, but now technology can help you to explore the reviews online and decide what is best for your sleep needs. Earlier it was cumbersome to go into the various stores and check which is the best mattress for you, but now you can explore the whole set of options from your home, like if you are heavily built and you are planning to buy a new mattress, you can explore various options online at your home without having to step a foot outside.
- Innovative Mattresses
Mattress industry is coming up with so many innovative solutions like “mattress-in-a-box” where technology is used to compress a mattress into a small box that can be easily shipped to customers and they can set it up on their own.
Technology has been able to get us mattresses that can keep us cool while we are asleep and our sleep doesn’t get disturbed when our body heats up.
- Blue light-blocking glasses
Blue light-emitting screen devices can be bad for your sleep because blue light is known to suppress the production of the sleep-inducing hormone, melatonin. Here again, technology can rescue the day for us by bringing us yellow or amber-tinted glasses, orange-tinted glasses, etc. These glasses can block the blue light coming from the screen gadgets.
- White noise machine
Technology has blessed us with a white noise sound machine, an electronic gadget that can mask unwanted noise while we are asleep. It generates a consistent, low-key, soothing sound that fades into the background and masks all other unwanted sounds so that we can sleep peacefully through the night.
Even an electric fan can work as a white noise generator.
- Earplugs
Earplugs may be a low-tech gadget but it is very useful for our sleep. It can be used for keeping the sound level below 30 decibels so that your sleep doesn’t get disturbed during the night. It certainly is a nice gadget to have for the people who live next to a road that has too much traffic during the night, neighbors who like to watch their TV at high volume, etc. Silicone earplugs are the best as they conform to the shape of your ear better and can help to keep unwanted sounds out and you can sleep peacefully.
- Sleep trackers
Sleep trackers are in vogue these days, they are not only trendy but are good for tracking sleep and help in improving sleep experience. Market is full of sleep trackers that can be something like a simple wristband, pads that can be kept under the mattress, mattress sheets, etc. that can track your sleep stages, heart rate, respiration, and movement and improve your sleep experience.
The data collected by these trackers can be helpful for your doctor to suggest if any treatment or lifestyle changes are required for sleep disorders, if any.
- Snoring aids
Snoring is not bad only for your partner sleeping next to you but for your health. It can develop into serious health problems like sleep apnea, pauses in your breathing can become fatal. Technology has been able to bring us devices like anti-snore pillows, nose strips, nasal dilators, anti-snoring mouth guards, etc. that can help you conquer snoring issues and help you sleep better.
Conclusion
We should make judicious use of technology to help us sleep better, which is vital for our overall well-being. These advances in technology can aid you to sleep better but certain lifestyle changes may be required as well if you are experiencing any sort of sleep disorder.
