Sleep and Social Media
Digital Detox Challenge Experience: Final Post:
I am sleeping better. I thought at first that the blue light exposure on my phone was the cause of my eyes hurting and my inability to fall asleep quickly. When I read about it, I learned that it is a small component of the problem and the stimulation of scrolling on reels was the real problem. I needed constant stimulation and could not unwind and decompress. I’d try to go to sleep, and then when it was difficult to fall asleep, I’d return to my phone to scroll and be more wide awake.
I started to talk to everyone about their sleep. Some friends were fixated on routines to go to bed, others chewed melatonin gummies, and I found that everyone thought they needed different amounts of sleep. I decided to spend time researching sleep. Apparently, there are books and research done on improving sleep hygiene. I read about how much sleep you needed for your age, meditation, the importance of routines, showering before bed, optimizing your environment for sleep, and so much more. It was exhausting to read about this when my linear brain needed a simple formula.
I was at CVS and decided to talk to the pharmacist because I was buying melatonin, in case I had trouble going to sleep. She told me about the 10-3-2-1 sleep rule. I have asked a lot of people if they have heard of it and cannot find one person that does. Here’s the good news, it works. The formula is simple: 10 hours before bed, cut out caffeine, 3 hours before, avoid food, 2 hours before, finish any activities, 1 hour before, turn off all screens. I guess the 10-3-2-1 rule has components of routine and optimizing your environment to encourage sleep which I read about before. What has been amazing is that by following it for 3 weeks, I haven’t gotten up during the night. The medical term for that is a sleep disturbance. It’s crazy to actually sleep for 8 hours in a row. The other crazy part is I am remembering my dreams by writing them down directly when I wake up.
To be honest, I never remembered my dreams. The coolest thing happened last week and I remembered flying over whole sections of NYC in my dream. When I told a friend, she said that you can analyze your mental state by your dreams. We Googled it and it said that flying in your dreams signifies freedom, liberation, and rising above challenges. My plan is to keep digitally detoxing, flying in my dreams, and reporting back on my journey.
John Maida, NoSo YLI, Student
