Are you sleeping with your phone in your room or on your pillow? Is  Your WiFi Powered On While You Try to Get To Sleep?

You're not alone... 

Research confirms over 60% of us have the cellphone next to us when we go to bed. 

• Common Sense* found that 62 percent of parents —keep their mobile devices within reach at night.

• Sixty-eight percent of teenagers reported that they keep their mobile devices within reach at night.

• Nearly a third (29%) of teens sleep with smartphones, cell phones or tablets

• A recent Sure Call cellphone-attachment survey of 1,000 adults found that  68% sleep with their phone next to or near their beds.
• A robust new research project found that people got a better night's sleep when there was no EMF vs when a WiFi signal on:
  
   

  • Participants reported poorer sleep
    

  • 27.3% of participants had insomnia during the exposure.

  • When the WiFi signal was on, participants showed changes in brain wave patterns in the theta, beta, and gamma frequencies.

  • Women in their 40's and 50's experienced more insomnia

But just because the majority of us want our cellphones within reach as we nod off to sleep, it doesn't mean it's good for us.

That cellphone with its bright light, disruptive notification bings and dings and its invisible wireless energy or EMF can mess with our thinking, our minds our relationships and yes, our sleep. 

Here are 6 reasons you may want to keep your smartphone out of your bedroom tonight and your WiFi off.

1.First, let's talk more about that WiFi signal study.

This study was robust, even thought there were just 12 people-it went on for 4 weeks and they not only found out how the people felt and slept, they took heart rate variability and brain wave measurements and found the differences with WiFi transmitters and without.

It was a pilot study which means it's sets the stage for the study to be done again so it's not just a one off.  Because if people's sleep is as impacted by WiFi as the study shows, Houston, we've got a problem. 

These were people were healthy and had no sleep issues.  Yet, as you can see from this chart, sleep scores were better when No RF(radio frequency) EMF was on. They call it a PIRS scale. When the numbers go higher, it points to more insomnia.  Baseline was before the cameras and monitors were brought in to bedrooms. RF on means EMF exposure, RF Off, means no exposure.  The "washout" time was when there was a break from the test.

I always talk about doing a study the right way and this one did.  Does radio frequency radiation impact sleep? was a double blind, meaning the "investigator"  who put WiFi monitors and camera in peoples bedrooms and showed them how to fill out assessments, didn't know if the devices were really giving off EMF and neither did the participants.  The study was also randomized and placebo controlled, meaning you couldn't tell the real from the fake WiFi. 

I have to tell you, even without this study, hundreds of moms already knew the WiFi messed with sleep.  Through out the years of telling so many people they needed to turn their WiFi's off at night, mothers were telling me their kids napped better vs sometimes not at all, when they turned the WiFi off. 

It's such an easy thing to try.  My main recommendation is to not touch that WiFi when it's on- or go near it for that matter.  The signal is the strongest at the antenna, so please turn your WiFi off with a timer or remote control kill switch.

I LOVE our WiFi Kill Switch

2. The light from the screen does the opposite of make you sleepy.

But looking at bright light at night is like looking at the bright sun or daylight at night.  It's not natural and it tricks our bodies into thinking it's time to wake up and get going. In fact we can often get a cortisol release, just by looking at that light.  Cortisol as you may know is that "high focus" fight or flight steroid hormone that comes from our adrenal glands.  Let's save it for the daytime when we can really make the most of it. 

Remember,  ANY artificial blue light—from TV’s tablets, .e-readers, etc., stops the melatonin from being released in our bodies and can not only make it harder to get to sleep but can ruin the quality of your sleep too.

Boston's Brigham Research Center studied people who read from E-readers ,phones  or devices before bed for 12 weeks. Participants who read from the iPad were less sleepy before bedtime, but sleepier and less alert the following morning after eight hours of sleep  That's not good!

Still need to use your device within 2 hours of bed time? Grab this blue light blocking set for the right type of protection for your body needs at every hour of the day. 

3. The phone near your pillow can cause cognitive impairment

Honestly, we don't want our cognition impaired.  Our cognition refers to our thinking, knowing and learning.  And cognitive impairment can mean forgetfulness or learning disabilities, concentration difficulties,   A recent study  found a correlation between those who kept their phones under or near their pillows and lower MoCA test scores.

Participants in the study showed decreased MoCA scores from those who  by kept their mobile phone near their pillow while sleeping; MOCA=24.35 for near pillow groups and >25.5 for the groups that placed their mobile phone away from the pillow.  BTW- scores for this test go up to 30 and 26 is considered normal cognition.

Want to boost your brain power? This coloring book has been proven to increase mindfulness and decrease anxiety

4.  One Survey Found That Those who sleep with their phones on or next to their beds are 3 times more likely to report feeling very unhappy or extremely dissatisfied with their lives, compared to those who don’t. 

This statistic comes from that SureCell survey we talked about earlier said this could be more about what's termed "excessive phone use".  It would stand to reason that if we need to have our phones in the bedroom, we probably like to use them a lot.  There are many studies linking excessive phone use to isolation and depression.

But say that's not you- you're not depressed or unhappy, you're just used to that phone being close by.  Nothing wrong with that. 

"I'm not addicted! I just need my phone to wake me up in the morning!" FALSE Try this EMF-Free and Blue Light-Free Analog Alarm Clock.  

5. Magnetic EMF from the charging cord + phone screen and Wireless EMF from your cellphone can Block Melatonin plus cause stress  and dis-ease to your beautiful body.

There are now 1,000's of peer reviewed studies that show a connection between EMF and illnesses from infertility, to cancer, to immunity and headaches.  You can find the details in our EMF Guide

A new study found that rats exposed to cellphones caused anxiety and a reduction in melatonin levels.  Both of those don't mix well with trying to get a good night's sleep.

I got the chance to personally communicate with Kevser Delen the lead researcher on the  study and she said that it wasn't just the effects on melatonin that she noticed, she also saw anxiety when the cellphones were on. 

"In our study the distance between the rats and the antennae was about 20 cm. We suggest our exposure could be analogous with human exposure. We observed significant biological changes as written in the manuscript. I also observed that rats had anxietic behaviours when RFR (radiofrequency radiation) on."

6.  Sleeping with the phone in your bedroom can be distracting and interfere with your relationship with your partner.

Did you know that the mere presence of your cellphone in view can cause you to be distracted?  It's true.  The study is eye opening and at the same time, pretty obvious.  It's like when that phone isn't out of sight and tucked away, it's as though it calling out your name-- wanting your attention and distracting you from sleep.  Or even more importantly, that fabulous human next to you in bed.    Put the phone away and it will be easier to give them your full attention

You also don't want something called Technoference in the bedroom.

BYU asked 143 married or cohabiting women, about how tech was effecting their relationships.  A stunning majority reported that phones, computers and other technology devices were significantly disruptive in their relationships. The technoference was associated  with higher conflict and lower relationships satisfaction.

I completely get this one. I remember the first time my husband brought the phone to bed with us.  He was staring at it and touching it and smiling -and I thought, oh my gosh, it's like he's talking to someone- and they're here with us- in our bed.  But I can't see them, or hear the conversation.   He wasn't actually communicating with anyone of course, he was just reading and scrolling as one does.  But it made me feel uncomfortable.  I looked at him and glanced down at that phone and said, "Honey, that is not happening."  He looked at me and said.  "Yeah.  Okay."  And that was that. 

No phone in our bed ever since.

If you haven't experienced the peace and joy of a device free bedroom, give it a go and see if you don't sleep better and enjoy time more and find your personal sleep sanctuary more rejuvenating. 

Make sure your phone is comfy too while you're all snuggled up in bed. Put this charging station outside your room as a reminder for the whole fam to keep their phones out of their bedrooms! 

 Common Sense media research

Sure Call cellphone-attachment survey

Boston's Brigham Research Center 12 week study

BYU  study