E-paper: Cure for insomnia?

[Sydney's Mom]

I have really bad insomnia. It is due to my clock being different than most other people. I would be perfectly happy going to bed at 3 and getting up at 10. But I can't find a job with those hours.

Anyway, since I was a kid, I read before bed. I remember telling my daughter I felt sorry for her, not being able to enjoy a book, and drift off to sleep. When I got my kindle, it was even better!

About a year ago, I got a big Kindle Fire because I wanted to read some Walking Dead graphic novels. Anyway, I found the white letters on black background setting, and put my PW aside. My insomnia got worse, but I attributed it to working from home. Instead of getting up at 7:30 in order to get to the office for a 9:00 call, I can get up at 8:45.

Two days ago, I was having trouble with my fire, and wanted to finish the book I had started (Argo), so I picked up my PW. I read for about half hour, and I was sleepy. Last night, same thing happened. I really think the people talking about the backlit screens keeping you up are right. I have been taking an Ambien if I wanted to get to sleep quicker than 2 hours after I got in bed. This week, haven't had to think about taking a pill.

Has anyone else noticed a difference reading in bed with a fire versus a PW? I ordered the new PW this morning.

Image by Justin Pickard via Flickr

[cromag]

I have the same non-conforming internal clock. You have my sympathy!

As far as the Fire and insomnia go -- yep, it's almost certainly related. See this article at Scientific American:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...-delay-bedtime

[Purple Lady]

My internal clock is about the same - bed at 3:00. I also have a problem with brightly lit screens and use the night mode or dark theme for as many apps as I can. The white text on black is too much for me so I use an app called Filter Your Screen and put a gray filter over my screen. I saw one in Amazon's app store called SunFilter that might help you too. I use Moon+ for my reading and use a black background with reddish purple letters and that helps. I keep my screen brightness at about 10 - 15% most of the time.

[emonti8384]

It's actually been proven that light makes your body want to stay awake. I would switch to the non-led screens if I were you. Good luck!

Originally Posted by cromag

As far as the Fire and insomnia go -- yep, it's almost certainly related. See this article at Scientific American:

Sure, but will a PW solve that?

I suspect it will, since it seems to me that the light on eink readers can be turned to a much dimmer setting. (At least that seems to be the case from using an Aura HD and several LCD displays. I've done no formal measurements.) But if that is the case, switching to grey text on a black background should achieve a similar effect.

[Katsunami]

Good evening. It's about 3 AM here now. I'll probably go to bed in an hour or so.

After my vacation ends, the horror starts again, as I need to be up at 6:00. I'll be permanently tired again during the week, go to bed at 3 AM on Friday/Saturday, and sleep (or be half dead, depending how you look at it) until 1 PM on Saturday.

[Apache]

I am lucky. I can fall asleep easily. I have always been that way. The only problem I have is I only need 4 to 5 hours sleep and them I am wide awake. It drives my wife nuts that I get up between 4 and 5 AM or even earlier.
Apache

[cromag]

Originally Posted by BWinmill

Sure, but will a PW solve that?

I suspect it will, since it seems to me that the light on eink readers can be turned to a much dimmer setting. (At least that seems to be the case from using an Aura HD and several LCD displays. I've done no formal measurements.) But if that is the case, switching to grey text on a black background should achieve a similar effect.

I don't have an e-ink device so I can't speak with authority, but with a tablet or laptop you're looking into the source of illumination -- more direct and biassed towards the blue end of the spectrum.

My own ereader doesn't have an illuminated screen. I try to make sure I'm off my computer and netbook significantly before I go to bed, but I don't worry about reading (paper or Jetbook) right up to bedtime.

[arjaybe]

The light that disturbs sleep is a narrow slot in the 410 nanometer range. It's a portion of the blue part of the spectrum. Eliminating blue light will do the trick.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Apache

I am lucky. I can fall asleep easily. I have always been that way. The only problem I have is I only need 4 to 5 hours sleep and them I am wide awake. It drives my wife nuts that I get up between 4 and 5 AM or even earlier.
Apache

That's pretty typical for me as well generally lights out at 9 PM and once in a while I'll wake up after a few hours and can't get back to sleep so just get up....1:30 2:00 or 3:00 AM

[elemenoP]

Originally Posted by arjaybe

The light that disturbs sleep is a narrow slot in the 410 nanometer range. It's a portion of the blue part of the spectrum. Eliminating blue light will do the trick.

But this is worrisome to me because my PW has a definite blue cast. Once in a while when I wake up in the night, I will read in the dark with my PW set to 1. I'm not sure if that's better or worse than turning on the light to read in the middle of the night. I do think the reading helps, because sometimes the reason I can't fall asleep again is due to my mind cycling and cycling.

My husband keeps the hours that some of you would like: he sleeps from 4 or 5am until 11am or so. He is in the restaurant business!

eP

[DiapDealer]

All I know is that I have a Kindle Fire and I can't stay awake even nearly as long as I'd like to before the thing tries to break my nose. I'm not saying there's nothing to the claims about backlit screens, I'm just saying it's clearly not a universal effect. I fall asleep waaaay too early reading my Kindle Fire every single night (and sleep like a log all though the night). Heck, I'm half-asleep right now trying to post this.

[MeSue]

I read on an iPad and have no trouble falling asleep after/while reading. I work at home so usually go to bed about 11, read until 1 or 2, and get up between 9 and 10. 😀 :nightowl:

I used to be able to read for hours laying on my side with my iPad propped up, until... Last year I got so sick I had to sit up to read because of the congestion. So I would read sitting up until I got sleepy then lie flat and sleep. Now I would prefer to read laying on my side like I used to but I can never last more than 20-30 minutes before I can't keep my eyes open! It's such a bummer!

Maybe I should try a blue-ish background until I want to get sleepy... Hmmm.

[arjaybe]

The sleep disturbance is more about delaying melatonin production than it is about delaying sleep, though for some people it does that too.

[gabby98]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

My internal clock is about the same - bed at 3:00. I also have a problem with brightly lit screens and use the night mode or dark theme for as many apps as I can. The white text on black is too much for me so I use an app called Filter Your Screen and put a gray filter over my screen. I saw one in Amazon's app store called SunFilter that might help you too. I use Moon+ for my reading and use a black background with reddish purple letters and that helps. I keep my screen brightness at about 10 - 15% most of the time.

I definitely need to look into these apps.

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Good evening. It's about 3 AM here now. I'll probably go to bed in an hour or so.

After my vacation ends, the horror starts again, as I need to be up at 6:00. I'll be permanently tired again during the week, go to bed at 3 AM on Friday/Saturday, and sleep (or be half dead, depending how you look at it) until 1 PM on Saturday.

This is almost my exact schedule, but once i get the kid off to school I can catnap again for about an hour and a half before I have to be up for good...this probably does more harm than good I know,but when you are tired all the time, you take what you can get.

I do not read on a tablet and still find myself up all night,....now I don't know if its just because I am into the book itself or if my book light is LED... I was fine until a few years ago....never mind as I type this i realize it's been more than ten years now since my sleep issues started so I cannot blame it on the change it work schedule. Anybody ever been told what causes the insomnia or are well stuck with the same lame "I dont know" dr excuses.