E-readers 'damage sleep and health,' doctors warn

[scoot.at]

Originally Posted by Halk

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-30574260

The article, however is not talking about electronic readers it's talking about using a tablet instead of an electronic reader.

It's a very badly written article.

"The researchers said other e-readers such as the Nook and Kindle Fire produced similar wavelengths of light and would have the same impact."

Some Nooks do not produce similar wavelengths of light.

I think it mentioned nook tablet, not e-reader.

[meeera]

Originally Posted by scoot.at

I think it mentioned nook tablet, not e-reader.

The original paper briefly references the colour temperature of the Nook Colour. The BBC article just says "the Nook", by which most people would infer an e-ink Nook.

The original paper looks at no front-lit ereaders at all.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by pagepack

I've emailed the BBC saying this exact same thing, asking that they rewrite the article to make clear the differencing between e-ink displays and tablets.

Sloppy journalism.

The article I read on it -- one of the articles -- did specifically mention the difference between back and front lighting ...

But not all eReaders cause the user to lose sleep. The original Kindle, which doesn’t have its own light source, reflects the same ambient light as a regular book, the study says. Other Kindle devices, like the Paperwhite and Voyage, also use different light technology designed to be easier on the eyes, however these devices were not tested in the study.

http://consumerist.com/2014/12/23/ca...r-nooks-fault/

[JSWolf]

The first problem with this article is the title. It's not eBooks. It's LCD screens. So the problem could be playing Angy Birds before going to sleep. It's not just reading eBooks it's looking at an LCD screen. So the article is wrong. The next is that they don't stress enough that eInk is not an issue.

The thing is, I've read in bed with an iPad and my phone and had no problems sleeping.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The thing is, I've read in bed with an iPad and my phone and had no problems sleeping.

I bet you hadn't turned your screen to full brightness and put the tablet and phone at a set distance from your eyes at a fixed location... So, no turning around to the other side to lay more comfortably and relax stressed muscles...

I bet they hadn't turned on a large building lamp while reading that paper book, at the foot of the bed...

[crich70]

Actually our sleep patterns are probably out of sync more due to the electric light than an ereader I'd think. Prior to the electric light being so easily acquired people went to bed shortly after it got dark as oil and kerosene lamps were expensive to keep going late into the night. And the natural sleep pattern (as I understand it) is to have 1st sleep and 2nd sleep. 1st sleep goes from when people would go to bed til around midnight. Back in the day when people woke from 1st sleep the mother of the family would check in on the kids or other short term tasks while the man of the house would take care of anything (on the farm) that he hadn't earlier in the day (maybe some milking etc) and it was also the time when a lot of babies would be conceived as people were rested (and any children in the house were asleep). Then people would go back to sleep til it was time to get up. Now days though we tend to stay up later and don't get enough sleep on top of it. Plus we are temperature sensitive. If we are too warm or cold it throws our biochemistry off and we wake up groggy and unrested.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by pagepack

I've emailed the BBC saying this exact same thing, asking that they rewrite the article to make clear the differencing between e-ink displays and tablets.

Sloppy journalism.

That's the current BBC Standard - I refer to them as the Daily Mail of Broadcasting, when I'm not calling them the Bolshevik Bullshit Commissariat.

They should stick to what they know - salacious period romps.

I cringe in anticipation of what they'll do to Wolf Hall

BR

[soulfuldog]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Tried to read the article on my Nexus 7, but kept falling asleep in the middle.

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

Check the footnotes of the original "research": "Dr. Czeisler received royalties from McGraw Hill, Penguin Press/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt"

And the research data: 12 people over 5 days.

If this had been an advert, it would be investigated by the advertising standards agency for being so misleading, but instead they can publish it as a news story and on supposedly neutral, good standard* news website.

*Other views on the neutrality and standard of BBC news are available.

[Anthem]

Given the right boring book, I can be dead tired in mere minutes whether I am reading on LCD or e-ink.

Hell, with something like Atlas Shrugged I could be asleep within seconds even if my e-reader was illuminated with the power of our very Sun.

But I do see what they are saying with the whole melatonin suppression and all that. I prefer to read using e-ink at night, without question.

[Nabeel]

As the son of a BBC employee, I have to say I feel a bit ashamed of this article. It is sloppy.

I do have sleep problems, and find that a) reading anything is a good way to get to sleep (paper, e-book, magazines, cornflake packets) and b) when I can't sleep, reading is a good way of passing the time.

[Barcey]

Originally Posted by Nabeel

As the son of a BBC employee, I have to say I feel a bit ashamed of this article. It is sloppy.

I do have sleep problems, and find that a) reading anything is a good way to get to sleep (paper, e-book, magazines, cornflake packets) and b) when I can't sleep, reading is a good way of passing the time.

It wasn't just BBC that picked up the story though. Just lazy journalism in general. It's the scientific study with "results paid for by..." that I have a problem with. Having people read for four hours on an iPad with the brightness set to full intensity in a dim room, setup on a stand at a set distance to guarantee the correct amount of light exposure. Completely unrealistic scenario designed to produce a result.

It's sad because sleep deprivation is a problem for a lot of people and light has been proven to attribute to it. There is a reason that Apple has set the default on iPad's to auto dim and there is a reason that most apps have a night mode.

[susan_cassidy]

There's a great poem by Humbert Wolfe that says it all

epigram

You cannot hope to bribe or twist
(thank God!) the British journalist.
But, seeing what the man will do
unbribed, there's no occasion to.

[dandelioncottage]

Did the Dr. tell you no more reading in bed on an electronic device, or just in general? I don't know if I could take that advice--I've been reading in bed all my life.

Originally Posted by Katie1

I wish they ask me! I read in bed Because reading in any format puts me to sleep!! On my last Dr visit I was told no more reading in bed! WTHeck! My Dr must have read this article!!

[Victoria]

Perhaps it depends on the level of sensitivity we each have. I've read in bed all my life with no problems. I start getting sleepy within half an hour.

A few years ago, when i first got an iPad, i read in bed with it, and after a few weeks realized i was wide awake, and reading for hours, so i stopped and went back to my (unlit) kindle. My normal pattern resumed. So now I use my kindle PW2 downstaris, and unlit kindle touch in bed. It works very well.

I've just returned from a trip overseas, and only took an ipad. Bang, same problem. So, i'm convinced that I'm sensitive to the blue light, and respond very differently to an ipad vs a kindle touch.

[Terisa de morgan]

For me, it would be not reading in bed at all As a person who has gone to work without having slept because of reading a paper book, I'm afraid lighted screen is not the reason