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Cell phones and their accompanying apps have been implementing more “night mode” features that allow users to change the tint of their phones and to subtract blue light. However, a new study suggests that putting your phone on night mode could actually be messing with your sleep.
According to the study, blue light triggers our brain that it is nighttime because it resembles the colors of twilight. So by constantly keeping your phone on night mode which uses bright yellow colors over blue colors, you could be messing with the signals your body is sending your brain.
“Technologies designed to limit our evening exposure to blue light, for example by changing the screen color on mobile devices, may therefore send us mixed messages,” researchers from the University of Manchester said, via Current Biology. “This is because the small changes in brightness they produce are accompanied by colors that more resemble day.”
Your sleep patterns, in effect, are less impacted by blue lights.
The Guardian adds:
According to the study, brightness levels are more important than colour when it comes to stimulating the body clock. However, when the light is equally dim, blue is more relaxing than yellow. This makes basic sense: daylight is yellow, twilight is blue, and sunrise and sunset are pretty reliable ways to tell your body clock what time it is. Of course, at this point, we only know it works on mice – and mice don’t have phones.
So, there you have it.
While the night mode may cause less of a strain on your eyes, it could be one of the reasons behind your nighttime struggles. And let’s be honest: who doesn’t pick up their phone in bed when you are struggling to fall asleep? It turns out we are all just making things worse for ourselves.
