Bedrooms are supposed to be a place of temptation for adults. But it seems Australians are succumbing to a temptation of a different kind, with almost half the population unable to resist the urge to take laptops and other electronic devices into bed, thereby setting themselves up for a bad night's sleep.
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It is thought between 25 and 30 per cent of people experience sleep problems, ranging from insomnia, to frequent waking up or daytime sleepiness, but a survey of sleep habits has found Australians may be making the problem worse.
The survey of 1500 people, conducted by the charity the Sleep Health Foundation, found up to 45 per cent brought electronic devices into the bedroom.
Sleep Health Foundation psychologist, Dorothy Bruck, said not only did this mean people weren't switching off before bed, particularly if they were using the device to do work, but the blue light from electronic devices held close to the face could prevent your body-clock from operating properly, by stopping it from releasing the hormone melatonin, which signals oncoming sleep.
"The blue light is a problem when it comes from electronic devices held closely, although it is not so much a problem with a television across the room," she said. "But what we do find is that if people are regularly falling asleep with the TV on they actually lose the ability to self-soothe, so when they wake up in the middle of the night they might not be able to get back to sleep".
Professor Bruck said overseas research indicated people were getting less sleep than they used to, and in Australia one survey had found people were getting on average an hour less sleep a night than they needed - about 7.3 hours when they should be getting 8.25.
"If people are poor sleepers and they regularly have fragmented sleep they do have a higher risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease," she said. "Having less than 7 hours has been linked in some studies with a greater chance of being overweight or obese".
But she said while the health effects of poor sleep were serious, sleep experts didn't want to worry people, at least not enough to scare them out of a good night's sleep.
"Particularly in bed, worrying about sleep is completely the wrong thing to do," she said.
Instead, she recommended ensuring a one or two-hour buffer before bed to wind down,something the survey found only two-thirds of people did.
Other tips included having a warm shower before bed, which allows you to cool down more rapidly, another signal to the body it is time to sleep.
And for the party animals whostayed up late last night there's bad news: binging on booze can actually change the way your body produces melatonin, disrupting your sleep later on in the week.
Professor Bruck says a sleep-in after a late night is not the answer. A body clock's cycle is not quite lined up with a 24-hour day, but instead stretches closer to 25. This gives us a natural incentive to stay up later, something a sleep-in only exacerbates.
"On the weekend you should try not to sleep in more than an hour later than you would usually get up," she said.
"Otherwise by the time you get to Sunday night your body clock might have quite a bit of jetlag.You might be on Adelaide time, or even halfway to Perth ... It just creates this cycle".
The Sinnico family have two laptops, two smartphones, a PC, an iPad, an iPod and an assortment of old phones the younger children use to play games on but Ainsley Sinnico and her husband have set down strict rules for their five youngsters so they can't use technology in their bedrooms at bedtime.
Tips for a good night's sleep
1. Go to bed at a regular time, and allow wind-down time before you do.
2. Limit alcohol consumption and coffee after 2pm
3. Keep clocks out of view
4. Get up early and go out in the sun, which will help set your melatonin cycle.
Source: Sleep Health Foundation factsheets and Prof. Dorothy Bruck
