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a definitive correlation between lack of sleep and premature death. While vices like tobacco or excessive alcohol or even a sedentary life had in the past been cited as reasons for disease and death, it is this finding that not getting enough sleep has been found to be a fatal problem that is shocking. The question is how many of us have woken up to the hard facts after going through these reports. With life becoming fast and more demanding just every one of us end up shirking sleep more often. According to this studies it is not the occasional late night show or that cant put down gripping novel that one takes to bed (fortunately the most gripping of them tend to mercifully slip of your palms when nine winks come calling) that the report cites as serious reasons for loss of sleep
The report singles out working on the computer well into the night as the most serious cause of insomnia. Let us see how sitting before the box or reading a book in the night is different from working on the computer. While the first two activities may at worst knock of some sleeping hours they do not do any further harm once you have put down the book or switched off the telly. The computer on the contrary is a more serious invasion into the sleeping pattern and a bigger disruption on the functioning of the body clock. Let us see how the damage is done, man is not a nocturnal animal and in the normal course the body and mind start the shutting down process as a prelude to sleep between about 9 to 10pm.
According to scientists the bright light that emanates from the computer screen stimulates the brain and impedes sleep, in other words it cheats and confuses the brain that it is still day and a long way down to sleep. The body secretes melatonin the wonder fluid which is critical only when there is total darkness. The bright light that penetrates into the eye from the computer screen prevents its secretion and impedes sleep. From a larger perspective it is in fact advisable to switch off your television 2 hours before going to bed although the light from it may not pose as much a threat as the light from a computer screen, besides the viewing distances also brings down the intensity of the brightness. In this context it should be noted that laptops that claim to be equipped with extra bright screens to enable easy reading in the dark only help in compounding the risk.
So remember to switch off your laptop at last 2 hours before you go to sleep regardless of how pressing the work in hand might be or how close the deadlines are drawn. God did not create us as nocturnal creatures and we cannot change this basic principle. The old saying Hard work killed no man might be true so long as it does not kill his sleep.
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