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How smart phones are ruining your sleep

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IANS Washington

Know that blue light your smart phone emits during the night gives you false signal that it is actually morning - forcing you to open eyes and look outside the window?

Switch off smart phones or tabs as the blue light is actually destroying your sleep, researchers warn.

"One of the best biological cues we have to what time of day it is is light. And it turns out that blue light in particular is very effective at basically predicting when morning is," Brian Zoltowski from the American Chemical Society was quoted as saying in media reports.

In the evenings, there is more red light than blue light that signals your body to get ready for bed.

 

The red light does this by interacting with the protein called melanopsin in cells deep inside your eyes.

"When the light hits this protein, these cells send a signal to the 'master clock' of the brain that dictates when we wake and when we get sleepy," Zoltowski explained.

After witnessing blue light, these cells sends a 'wake up' signal at night, messing up with sleep.

Keep your smart phone or tablet away from your vision for a good night's sleep, the researchers noted.

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First Published: May 20 2014 | 1:24 PM IST

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