Better Sex, Better Sleep, Better Health: 3 Reasons to Be Mindful of Technology in the Bedroom

Did you know the average person spends more than 33 years of their lifetime in their bedroom? That’s more than working, eating, socializing, exercising and vacationing combined.

At Tech Wellness, we’re all about helping people find balance with the technology that permeates every part of their lives. We focus on EMF’s, cyber security and privacy, the effects of blue light from our screens, online addiction and making a healthy digital home.

When looking at making over your relationship with technology, where’s a better place to start than where you spend most of your time—your bedroom.

Here are three reasons to think about giving your bedroom a digital detox:

Better Sex

Great sex and deep intimacy requires or allows intense focus. There’s nothing like the tantric meditative state that we can achieve when we allow ourselves to Be Here Now. Magical sex, meaningful conversation or the tactile high tend to only happen without distraction.

A recent survey of over 1,000 healthy Americans showed up to 17 percent (depending on age) admitted to checking their phones during sex. What? What could they possibly be hoping to see on the screen?

Even if you would never think of reaching for the phone during lovemaking, research shows that the mere presence of your smartphone is distracting. Even if it’s just sitting there, turned off and turned screen down. The more you need your phone, the more you’re distracted by it. Smartphones occupy what's called a "privileged attentional space,” similar to how our brains perceive the sound of our own names being called out. Our smartphones are calling out to us if they’re just sitting in the same room with us!

If you’re wondering if there’s research proving that it’s better to not be distracted during lovemaking, another study shows that non-erotic thoughts can really affect performance and satisfaction, for both men and women. And a major source of those types of thoughts—it’s your most personal, personal possession—your smartphone.

So, definitely yes.

Better Sleep

In that same survey, 75 percent of people said they sleep with their phone next to or near their beds. Almost half of those surveyed claim that they wake up to look at it two to three times in the middle of the night. It’s maximum distraction. Another 35 percent admitted that looking at their phone before bed affects their quality of sleep. It’s probably not a big surprise to learn that science is proving them right.

The luminous blue light that comes from our screens can also really slow down our melatonin production. Melatonin is an important hormone made in our pineal gland that the quality of our sleep. In fact, any artificial blue light—from TV’s tablets, e-readers, etc., stops the melatonin from being released in our bodies and can ruin the quality of your sleep. Actually, any blue light source—even the bright blue sky—suppresses melatonin. But unlike natural light, device blue light is on when our screens are on—that’s stopping us from getting the natural melatonin our bodies are making that regulates our circadian rhythms and helps us to get a delicious rejuvenating sleep.

Better Health

Of course, we know that better sleep means better health. And, as you can imagine, better/more sex means better health (and better sleep. Can you see where this is going?). But if we really want to use our sleep time to do everything possible to keep us healthy, we need to step away from our wireless devices.

Hundreds of studies from scientists around the world have proven beyond a doubt that EMF’s (electromagnetic fields), which are the information carrying radio waves that transmit information of all sorts to all our devices, can cause a biological impact on our bodies. Personally, I look at EMF’s as another environmental toxin that I need to avoid, like pesticides, secondhand smoke and even too much sun. So, our advice is “distance is your friend”; do what you can to avoid EMF sources such as phones, wi-fi, and wireless devices as much as possible. Creating a safe place in the room we spend the most hours of our lives is a fabulous place to start!