How your late-night connectivity is affecting your sleep and your overall health, especially in a new work-from-home world.
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by Elizabeth Burton
date: 09/22/2020
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Risk of burnout, anxiety, and work hours have all increased for many as workers have begun their transition to full-time remote work. As many work from makeshift bedroom āhome offices,ā devices are always in reach, meaning co-workers, bosses, and clients but a click away, making it practically impossible to truly disconnect. Follow below to learn more about how late night connectivity is affecting countless Americanās sleep.
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Remote Work and Restless Sleep
AĀ recent 2020 study published by PsychReg.orgĀ found that āof 2,000 people who started working from home in the past three weeks...70% of new home workers have found their sleeping patterns disrupted in some way, with one in four claiming that their sleeping pattern has been very disrupted, with a restless sleep each night.ā At least part of this phenomenon appears due to the fact that few remote workers have access to a separate work-from-home office space. TheĀ study published by PsychReg.orgĀ recorded āover a fifth of respondents (21%) are working from their main bedroom, which is negatively influencing their sleeping patterns.ā Women who have begun working from home alongside their spouse or partner are especially burdened,Ā the study found, as āwomen are working mostly in the living room (24%) with men taking the home office (23%).ā This has resulted in a 15% gap between women and men experiencing a āvery disruptedā sleep pattern, with 36% of women experiencing the issue compared to just 21% of men.Ā
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The Bedroom āOfficeā Problem
With so many Americans now working from their bedrooms, stepping back from or hiding oneās laptop, work phone, or tablet can feel like shirking responsibility, even if the devices are tucked away late at night. Not only can staring at an electronic device harm your sleep because of the energizing blue light that emanates from each screen, but it can also hurt your eyes and cause headaches, making it more difficult to fall asleep, and thereby making quality sleep even harder to achieve. Having a āhome officeā in oneās bedroom can also increase a workerās risk of burnout. This added pressure on oneās emotional and psychological health caused by increased work-related anxiety can also hamper quality sleep.
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Longer Days Mean Lasting Connectivity
According to a study conducted by the online employment platform Monster, referenced in by Michelle Fox in her article āRemote work burnout is growing as pandemic stretches on. Hereās how to manage it,ā published online by CNBC, āOver two-thirds, or 69%, of employees are experiencing burnout symptoms while working from home...up almost 20% from a similar survey in early May.ā Increasingly fearful for the long term survival of their jobs as the recession continues on, remote workers are taking even less time off than before.Ā
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The lack of a physical boundary between home and work has made disconnecting from work, and thereby from technology, all the more difficult. Many workers feel pressure to work longer days, answering emails and responding to requests at late hours when they should be sleeping, allowing electronics to affect their sleep. The threat of a missed call or email has left workers feeling jittery and on-edge, unable to commit to a restful nightās sleep.Ā
Technology and Your Internal Clock
Image fromĀ @quirkyclocksĀ on InstagramĀ
Always on Alert
According to Dr. Carl Rosenberg in his article āHow Technology Use Decreases Sleep Quality,ā written forĀ SleepHealthSolutionsOhio.com, ārecent research has shown that using smartphones and other devices before going to bed has a direct correlation with sleep lossā¦[by] emit[ting] short-wave, blue light.ā Blue light is the only electromagnetic field in the spectrum of visible light proven to affect sleep negatively. This has spurred additional research into the relationship between EMFs and sleep problems. Dr. Rosenberg explains that this exposure to short-wave blue light can shorten the period of REM sleep experienced by those who use their phones or computers close to bedtime. In his article forĀ SleepHealthSolutionsOhio.com, Dr. Rosenberg acknowledges that when the total amount of REM sleep is diminished because of using electronics before sleep, one can expect ādaytime grogginess, inability to focus, mood swings and chronic sleep deprivation.āĀ
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Blue light exposure also delays the bodyās release of melatonin, which is an important hormone for regulating the bodyās circadian rhythm, the biological function that controls sleep and wake cycles. Sleeping nearby a device is also harmful, explains Dr. Rosenberg, as expectations of alerts on oneās smartphone can keep the brain on high-alert when it is supposed to be conducting the reparative work intended to take place during sleep. Connectivity can be harmful to the emotional, physical, and psychological health of both children and adults, as found in a series of studies referenced by Rebecca Boyle in her article āUsing Electronic Devices Before Bed Tied to Lousy Sleepā for InsideScience.org.ĀThe Hidden Harm of Indirect Access
One peer-reviewed study entitled āDirect Measurements of Smartphone Screen-Time: Relationships with Demographics and Sleep,ā published in the November 9th, 2016 issue ofĀ PLOS ONE, conducted by researcher Gregory Marcus at UCSF and associated with the largerĀ Health eHeart studyĀ conducted jointly by the university and the American Heart Association, found that adults who use āa phone or tablet around bedtimeā¦[experienced] longer sleep latency, or taking longer to get to sleep, and poor sleep quality."Ā
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A second study entitled āAssociation Between Portable Screen-Based Media Device Access or Use and Sleep Outcomes,ā published byĀ JAMA PediatricsĀ and conducted by Ben Carter of Kingās College London, found that negative effects of technology are not limited to actually using the devices. Carter and his colleagues discovered that āif you donāt use the device, but have access to the device in the sleep environment, you again find much poorer sleep outcomes.ā Simply sleeping with electronics can be harmful.Ā
To minimize your risk of burnout while working from home and to ensure a better nightās sleep, try to put your phone and other devices either in a locked drawer across your bedroom or in another room of your home before going to bed.Ā
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