Phones need 'bed mode' to protect sleep

[annie]

Smartphones, tablets and e-readers should have an automatic "bedtime mode" that stops them disrupting people's sleep, says a leading doctor.

Prof Paul Gringras argued the setting should filter out the blue light that delays the body clock and keeps people awake later into the evening.

The doctor, from Evelina Children's Hospital in London, said every new model was "bluer and brighter".

He said manufacturers needed to show more "responsibility".

As it gets darker in the evening, the body starts to produce the sleep hormone melatonin - which helps people nod off.

Certain wavelengths of light, those at the blue-green end of the spectrum, can disrupt the system.

Prof Gringras was part of a study, published in Frontiers in Public Health, analysing the light emitted by devices

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-34744859

[wendy]

I set mine to go off at 9.30pm and come on again at 9am.
But I would not take my mobile to my bedroom anyway,

[maureenho]

I've only in the last couple of months turned my mobile off at night, I use to have to keep it on for emergencies being called out in the night, sounds daft with a landline beside bed but should the landline have gone down for whatever reason the mobile was at hand and vise versa.

[chenrezig]

I don't have mine off at night, but it "sleeps" in a "silent" mode in my shoulder bag inside a little case I bought from Poundland - no problem with blue light there.

[Rosalind]

Do not take my mobile into the bedroom.