There are many reasons why the quality of our sleep can be affected: stress, worries in the workplace or family, poor emotional management, bad sleep habits, a tendency to anticipate and think about the future, excessively late hours … Factors that, most of the time, we cannot easily control. Precisely for this reason, it is important to detect all those behaviors or habits that affect our sleep and that we could modify to improve it . One of these behaviors to avoid is vamping.
Vamping is a phenomenon that occurs when the hours of sleep are shortened, increasing the risk of suffering the effects associated with insomnia, due to spending that last time before closing the eyes consulting different electronic devices. It is a much more widespread practice among children and adolescents, but it affects more and more adults.
According to a study carried out by PiLeJe, the French laboratory specialized in microbiota, micronutrition and phytotherapy, 52% of the adolescents surveyed (between 12 and 17 years old) claim to consult electronic devices just before going to sleep. Something that causes 1 in 4 adolescents to feel, on a regular basis, drowsiness and concentration problems, during the mornings, in their place of studies.
22% of adolescents are unable not to consult their mobile phone before going to sleep
Checking your mobile -or any other device- before going to sleep has become a habit for teenagers, but also for adults. Individual entertainment (games, social networks, etc.) without the need to share information with friends or family is the main activity that adolescents develop at that time (73%), although 56% do affirm that they spend that time sharing content with his followers and friends.
According to the study, the majority (54%) do it simply out of habit, 31% affirm that it relaxes them and 22% admit that they are unable not to do so . In addition, more than half of the surveyed adolescents who use devices before going to sleep, say that they do not control the time they spend when they are with the mobile and that they always spend more time than they would like (55%).
The neurophysiologist and sleep specialist, Dr. Javier Albares, explains that “these data are in line with the latest published studies, showing that the use of devices in the hours before sleep is more and more frequent, which influences not only in the number of hours slept, but also in its quality. Adolescents spend the week sleeping 1 hour less than they should, which can have important repercussions on health “.
Tiredness, low energy, and poor concentration
The fact of being exposed to the luminous screens of our devices directly affects the pineal gland, located in the brain and responsible for manufacturing melatonin, that substance that helps us fall asleep and sleep well. For this reason, vamping can have effects not only on the quality of our sleep, but also on our health.
The PiLeJe study shows that 27% of the adolescents surveyed recently felt tired , 17% had low energy and 16% had a lack of concentration. 64% of them have presented drowsiness in class, 24% of them several days a week. On the other hand, only 12% of adolescents wake up naturally.
According to Dr. Javier Albares, “we know that poorly asleep adolescents have a higher incidence of mood disorders, worse school performance, and a greater tendency to consume stimulants and toxins. The observed trend towards greater use of devices as they are made Older still makes these data more worrying, finding us before a public health problem that needs, in order to be reversed, an urgent pedagogical intervention in schools and families, insisting on the importance of sleep and the influence on it of the use of electronic devices in the previous 2 hours “.
In this sense, for all those people who have difficulty sleeping linked to an anxious state, PiLeJe recommends Noctesia®, a highly concentrated food supplement made from Eschscholtzia (California Poppy) and Valerian extracts that promote a dream of quality and relaxation. In addition, for those with difficulty sleeping due to a desynchronization of rhythms, PiLeJe recommends the Chronobiane range based on melatonin, which helps to reduce the time needed to fall asleep.
