Is your Bedroom a Social Media Free Zone?

So, the chances are, that you use Facebook, Youtube, Instagram, Twitter or some other Social Media service.

Or maybe you use all of them!? These services have real quantifiable positive impacts when properly applied to business growth or other similar endeavors such as non-profit fundraising & awareness.

Social Media's Impact

More controversial, is Social Media’s positive, or negative impact on our personal lives. I like to take a bipartisan approach here. Social media is both good and bad.

Staying Connected

We would probably be less connected to our friends overseas, in Japan, Europe and Australia – without Social Media. We also keep in touch with people we have met only once or twice – are not close friends due to geography – but are connected to on Social media.

Social Media Addiction

But more and more people are becoming what we could call “Social Media Addicted”. There’s no clinical diagnosis for this “condition”, however, most of us know what it looks like. Have you ever felt ‘anxious’  because you forgot your phone? There’s now a term for that feeling of anxiety when you are ‘sans-phone’ – it’s called Nomophobia. Remarkably, “a study, sampled 2,163 people, found that about 58% of men and 47% of women suffer from the phobia”

Some of the physical and emotional symptoms reported were:

Symptoms

• anxiety
• respiratory alterations
• trembling
• perspiration
• agitation
• disorientation
• tachycardia

Emotional symptoms

• • depression
  • panic
  • fear
  • dependence
  • rejection
  • low self-esteem
  • loneliness

A recent report by Canadian researchers (go Canada!) found that just ONE HOUR of Social Media use can derail proper sleep.

The report found;

‘Importantly, significant associations were found when social media use exceeded one hour per day, suggesting that even this level of social media may be negatively associated with sleep duration.

‘Although females spent significantly more time using social media than males, the relationship between the use of social media and sleep duration did not differ by sex.

So we know that using social media, even in the day time may affect sleep habits. How about if you’re using your phone in bed at night? Is your Bedroom a Social Media Free Zone?

Put The Phone Away Before Bed

Researchers think that the blue-white light emitted by mobile phones prevents our brains from releasing melatonin. We need this hormone to sleep properly. Generally the research points to eliminating computer, tablet or mobile phone usage about an hour before bedtime. Here are three lessons learned from what happens when we do just that.

Get Proper Sleep

So, you may have an awesome, comfortable Fawcett Mattress. But if you’re using your phone, tablet or too much computer use close to bedtime, then you’re probably shooting yourself in the proverbial foot. We’re guilty here too, so don’t feel bad. Most of us are!

Personally I’m going to resolve to reading before sleep. And yes, from one of those old fashioned paper things. Not the phone.