Donjuan 1

Domenic Donjuan

Dr. Sharity Nelson

ENGL 1302 223

8 February 2023

The Effects Nighttime Phone Usage Has on Sleep

Introduction

All types of different electronic devices come with a screen nowadays. Whether it is large

or small, every screen emits blue light. Since people use devices almost all day, it can affect

various important health components, especially their nighttime sleep quality. According to

Osama Abd Alreheem Mahmoud, “sleeping is the optimum method for people to rest”

(Mahmoud, et al. 1). When a person looks at light late in the evening, it can “[lead them] to

[have] phase delays,” meaning that their sleep schedule will become messed up (Zerbini, et al.

2356). A phase delay is when a person’s body clock gets set off track, so they get mixed up

about when to go to sleep and/or wake up in the morning. Not only will blue light exposure at

night cause a person to have less sleeping time, but it can also lead to “increased incidence of

obesity, diabetes, sleep, psychiatric, and cardiovascular disorders and cancers” (Krishnan, et al.

1). This investigation aimed to determine how using and/or not using a smartphone before going

to bed affected a person’s sleep quality. This experiment hypothesizes that on nights that the

subject uses their phone, their sleep quality would be much worse compared to nights that the

person reduces their time looking at their phone.

Methods

To find a participant for this experiment, students from Texas A&M International

University, a Hispanic serving institution in Laredo, Texas, were asked at random if they were
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willing to participate. After being turned down by many individuals, a full-time nineteen year old

male student from the university volunteered to slightly alter their normal sleep schedule to

gather data for this experiment. This investigation happened over a course of four days,

beginning on a Friday night, extending all the way to Monday morning. There were a total of

three materials that were used for this study. The first object that was used in this investigation

was the subject’s iPhone XR. It was the device that was used every night before going to the set

time to go to sleep that allowed for the subject’s eyes to be exposed to blue light. The second

object that was necessary for this study was an alarm clock to ensure that the subject got an equal

number of sleeping hours throughout the three nights. The third resource used for this

investigation was a pair of blue light filtering glasses; however, they were only used on the third

night of the experiment. The control variables of this experiment include the student’s bed, their

position in bed (facing up), the temperature of the room (seventy-three degrees Fahrenheit), the

time the student goes to sleep (10:30 P.M.), and the time they wake up in the morning (8:00

A.M.).

On the first night, a Friday, the alarm clock rang at 10:00 P.M., telling the subject to

power off their iPhone and get ready to go to sleep in thirty minutes. During that time frame, the

subject prepared to wind down for sleep by reading a book. They did not use their phone or any

other device that emits blue light until the alarm clock went off again at 10:30 P.M., the set time

to go to sleep. The subject went to sleep on their back, facing directly to the ceiling above them.

Upon waking up Saturday morning to the alarm clock at 8:00 A.M., the subject rated their sleep

quality from the night on a scale of one to ten and mentioned if they were well-rested as well as

noting any other feelings.

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On the second night, Saturday, the alarm clock only went off at 10:30 P.M., reminding

the subject that it was time to head to bed. The subject continued being exposed to blue light

until that time and then instantly turned all the devices and lights off and went to sleep when the

alarm clock rang. Again, they slept facing upward, right towards the ceiling. Like the day before,

the subject once again rated their quality of sleep for the night and how they felt when they woke

up at 8:00 in the morning.

The final night of this study consisted of the subject using the third material—blue light

filtering glasses. These blue light filtering glasses were put on at 9:00 P.M. by the subject, an

hour and a half before the set time to go to sleep. The subject wore these glasses while

continuing to use their iPhone all the way until the set time to go to sleep. Finally, with the alarm

clock ringing at 10:30 P.M., the subject powered off the phone, took off the blue light filtering

glasses, and went straight to bed—facing straight up at the blank ceiling. They once again took

note of their sleep quality and mentioned any other feelings when they woke up at 8:00 in the

morning. The experiment was concluded.

Results

When the subject woke up at 8:00 the morning after the first night of the investigation—

where they did not use their cell phone thirty minutes before going to sleep—they rated their

sleep quality almost perfect, coming in at a nine out of ten. The subject woke up feeling well

rested and did not have any other conditions, such as a headache. Upon going to sleep on that

first night, the subject mentioned that they felt relaxed and that their body was able to wind down

very easily. They had no issues during the night, such as having a hard time falling asleep or

waking up in the middle of the night.

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After the second night of the experiment, where the subject utilized their cell phone until

the set time to go to sleep, they rated their sleep quality much worse than the previous night—a

five out of ten. The subject did not feel like they were well rested. Additionally, they woke up

with a slight headache, felt like they wanted to go right back to sleep, and had eye strain. They

noted that it was not easy to fall asleep right after using their phone—it was like their brain was

wide awake and was refusing to go to sleep initially. After some time, the subject was finally

able to go to sleep, but not at the ease they were able to do so from the night before. They also

noted that they woke up randomly in the middle of the night and had a hard time falling back

asleep.

After the third and final night of the experiment, where the subject wore blue light

filtering glasses while using their phone, they reported that their quality of sleep did not improve

much from the previous night. They rated their sleep quality a six out of ten. Like the day before,

the subject did not feel like they were well rested. They had once again wakened up with a slight

headache, some eye strain, and feeling like they wanted to get more rest. The subject mentioned

that although they did feel as if their brain was wide awake upon initially trying to go to sleep, it

did take less time for them to fall asleep compared to the night before, however, it was still not as

easy to do so like it was on the first night of the experiment. They also woke up randomly in the

middle of the night and found it hard to fall back asleep again.

Discussion

After running this experiment for three nights in a row and comparing the volunteer’s

results, it has been determined that putting away any devices that emit blue light at least thirty

minutes before going to sleep allows for a person to have the highest sleep quality possible. They

are able to fall asleep quickly and calmly as a result of them not looking at the blue light emitting
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screen so late in the night. They wake up the next morning feeling well rested and do not have

any other body parts that ache or hurt. As discovered on the second and third nights of this

experiment and confirmed by Sinha, et al., using a smartphone right before going to bed

“worsens sleep quality,” even if a person is wearing blue light filtering glasses (Sinha, et al. 383).

A person is much more likely to experience waking up in the middle of the night and have a hard

time going back to sleep if they use their phone before going to bed. Repeated emission of blue

light to a person’s eyes so late at night could eventually result in “[s]leep disorders, reflecting

psychosocial problems, depression, and anxiety-phobic disorders” (Mahmoud, et al. 5). Although

not tested or noted in this experiment, “lying posture while using the smartphone” before going

to sleep could have been one of the influences on why the volunteer did not have a good rest on

the second or third night of the investigation (Krishnan, et al. 3). All in all, people should begin

minimizing the amount of time that they spend on their electronic devices at night, as they will

discover that doing so can maximize their quality of sleep.

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Works Cited

Krishnan, Bindu, et al. “Quality of Sleep Among Bedtime Smartphone Users.” International

Journal of Preventive Medicine, vol. 11, no. 8, Aug. 2020, pp. 1–5. EBSCOhost,

https://doi.org/10.4103/ijpvm.IJPVM_266_19.

Mahmoud, Osama Abd Alreheem, et al. “The Association between Internet Addiction and Sleep

Quality among Sohag University Medical Students.” Middle East Current Psychiatry,

vol. 29, no. 1, Mar. 2022, pp. 1–6. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1186/s43045-022-

00191-3.

Sinha, Sanjeev, et al. “A Study on the Effect of Mobile Phone Use on Sleep.” Indian Journal of

Medical Research, vol. 155, no. 3/4, Mar. 2022, pp. 380–86. EBSCOhost,

https://doi.org/10.4103/ijmr.ijmr_2221_21.

Zerbini, Giulia, et al. “Strategies to Decrease Social Jetlag: Reducing Evening Blue Light

Advances Sleep and Melatonin.” European Journal of Neuroscience, vol. 51, no. 12,

June 2020, pp. 2355–66. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1111/ejn.14293.