iPad Can Affect Sleep Habits?

Many of us tend to read books and catch up with things before going to bed. Reading before bed time can even put some people to sleep. There is no question that all e-book readers can affect our sleep habits in one way or another. But since devices such as Kindle or Nook take advantage of E-ink technology, their impact on their users’ sleep habits is not that significant. That seems not to be the case with the iPad. According to sleep experts, the iPad can dramatically change people’s sleep habits if used before bed time.

Kindle and Nook are not backlit devices. So they do not emit light. The trouble is, you can’t just turn the lights off and continue using these e-book readers in bed. You won’t have that issue with the iPad. But iPad’s light could keep you awake for longer. Frisca Yan-Go, director of the UCLA Sleep Disorders Center in Santa Monica, put it best:

Light-emitting devices, including cellphones and yep, the iPad, tell the brain to stay alert. Because users hold those devices so close to their face, staring directly into the light, the effect is amplified compared with, say, a TV across the room or a bedside lamp.

Here is the dilemma. The iPad is capable of doing a whole lot of things. It can be used to watch movies, play games, read e-books, and surf the Internet. But it can technically give you insomnia as well. Let’s not forget that iPad is not as easy on eyes as are e-ink-based e-readers. So the iPad is not going to run away with the e-reader market. Not everyone’s going to like staying awake for longer at nights or the strain that the device’s screen can put on one’s eyes.

The iPad is a wonderful device and one of the best products ever released by Apple. It’s just not designed to replace paper books and the experience that one gets with them.

Have your sleep habits been affected since you have started using your iPad?