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HUFFINGTON
03.31.13
How Mobile Phones Affect Sleep
the phone — “sham” exposure to a phone without radiation failed to produce the same effect. The itch to check
in at all hours of the night or wake up to the sound of a
text message disrupts our sleep, too. A quarter of young
people feel they must be reachable around the clock, according to a Swedish study that linked heavy cell phone
use to sleeping problems, stress and depression.
Most of us choose not to set limits on our
nighttime availability. Nearly three-quarters of people
from the age of 18 to 44 sleep with their phones
within reach, and only in people 65 and older is leaving the phone in another room as common
as sleeping right next to it. — Katy Hall
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HOUSE DESIGN BY: JAMES ATELIER. ILLUSTRATION BY TROY DUNHAM
If your phone is the alarm that wakes you up in the
morning, it may also be keeping you up at night. Using a
phone just before bed has been shown to reduce length
and quality of sleep, and not much good comes from
checking work email that one last time.
A 2008 study funded by major mobile phone makers themselves showed that people exposed to mobile
radiation took longer to fall asleep and spent less time
in deep sleep: “... During laboratory exposure to 884
MHz wireless signals components of sleep believed to
be important for recovery from daily wear and tear are
adversely affected,” the study concluded.
And that’s just a physical symptom of sleeping near
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