Should I turn off electronics 2 hours before bed anyway?
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Hey guys,
I got flux and another app for my phone to block blue light and I'm in the process of replacing the light sources in my house to "orangier" ones. However, I'm not sure if I should cut out computer use two hours before bed "just to be sure."
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@Rafael_117 Absolutely, some people would even suggest 3 hours before bed to increase melatonin production in the brain for better sleep. An hour in pitch black before bed is even better.
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All you have to do is make sure you avoid bright, alerting light for the last couple of hours before going to bed. You don't have to take it to extremes. If you have f.lux on your computer (if not, then why not?), then you can use like say 1900K for the last hour or two or three before going to bed with a low monitor brightness and, yes, much warmer and dimmer indoor lighting.
Think about nature. As the sun reaches the horizon, it becomes warmer and the amount of light coming from it gets reduced more and more. If you were living outside hundreds of miles from any civilization, you'd probably be ready to go to sleep a half an hour to an hour after the sunset has completed.
Of course, we don't really have to duplicate that indoors, but you can buy that luxury. heh
Personally, I don't worry about it and I'm doing fine. When I know what time I want to fall asleep, I just eliminate all bright alerting light a couple of hours before bedtime, and yeah that includes much warmer lights and f.lux set to a very very very warm color. You don't have to take it to extremes like sitting around with absolutely no light for an hour. What are you gonna do? Twiddle your thumbs and meditate? I mean, really. Who sits in total darkness for an hour before bed? Not me! Would you ever d that? lol
It's not about increasing melatonin production either. It's about not interfering with it. It's about not interfering with the body's natural circadian rhythm. You can't increase melatonin production. After having no alerting light for a couple of hours, an amount of melatonin that should be sufficient is produced, and within an hour or so, you should be ready to go to sleep. Any alerting light will interfere with that and make you very alert and it takes another couple of hours to start producing melatonin again! So don't let it happen if you can help it. That's where f.lux can be helpful: it can allow you to use your computer right before bed if you want.
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What are you gonna do? Twiddle your thumbs and meditate? I mean, really. Who sits in total darkness for an hour before bed? Not me! Would you ever d that? lol
Yes meditate, listen to podcasts/radio/music, Alexander technique, self massage, generally unwind before bed. It helps you to relax and not be so uptight and controlling.............LOL.
