Latest Smart Phone Scourge: Texting And Sleeping
(CBS) – Smart phone owners are texting, emailing and surfing the web throughout the day. When it's time to go to sleep, many even keep their phones in the bed with them.
So, maybe it's no surprise that some texters end up texting in their sleep.
CBS 2's Kate Sullivan reports.
Twenty-three-year-old Megan is big into social media – so much so, she didn't stop even when she went to bed.
But having easy access to her phone overnight led to a startling discovery.
"I guess I just got up and texted and went to back to bed, but I don't usually remember it," she says.
Friends and family members would receive middle-of-the-night notes from her, which she had no recollection of sending.
"Technology has infiltrated the bedroom. The bedroom should really be a very low tech place," says sleep specialist Dr. Josh Werber.
He says sleep texting is becoming more common. And in addition to sending embarrassing notes, there can be serious health consequences.
"They're not getting the deep sleep or the rapid eye movement sleep, which is really critical to higher brain function," Werber says.
Laura Hogya is also a serial sleep-texter.
"When I do wake up to go to the bathroom or drink some water, I'll look at my phone and start answering but I won't remember any of it until I wake up the next morning," she says.
Unlike Megan, Hogya says her texts make sense, and now she's concerned where some of those messages may end up
"If I answer a client e-mail that's something I have to worry about," she says.
Dr. Werber says the first step to break the sleep text cycle is obvious: move the phone. He adds removing all gadgets from the bedroom could mean a better night's sleep for everyone.
"The light actually is also disturbing your ability to go to sleep because it's sending a signal to your brain that you still want to be awake," he says.
