Feeling blue?

What I read

In "Cyan colour hidden ingredient in sleep" (2018), Sean Coughlan says that in order to either encourage or discourage sleep, colours on screens can be created with or without the particular blue colour, called cyan, that recent research has found to affect how awake people feel. This is more specific than previous knowledge that blue light could interfere with a good night's sleep. According to the research, our eyes do not need to actually detect the particular colour for it to interfere with sleep. 

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My response 

The solid blue image that is included with this BBC News article caught my eye. It's unusual to see an image that is only rectangle of one colour. The other image with this article also helps us to understand the researchers idea that colours we see as the same can actually be created from different mixtures of pixels on the screens we stare at. 

If you are like me, you spend hours every day looking at screens. I don't look at my phone screen all that much, but I spend a lot of time reading on my tablet, working in front of my main computer or a laptop, and also watching TV. I've known that the blue from these screens can mess up my sleep, but I haven't really done anything about it. I'm more worried about people calling or messaging me after I've gone to sleep. That used to annoy me, so these days I use the "Do not disturb" mode on my phone, which means that no calls or other notifications are sounded between 10:00 PM and 7:00 AM, except for a group of six close friends and relatives. I think that they won't call me when I'm asleep unless it really is urgent, so they are the only people who can contact me. 

But now I'm thinking of also changing the setting on my phone that controls how much blue light it gives off. I know that I need a good night's sleep to function well the next day. 

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My question

Do you have special settings for your phone or other devices to help you get a good night's sleep? 

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Reference

• Coughlan, S. (2018, June 22). Cyan colour hidden ingredient in sleep. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/education-44565320