Causes of Disrupted Sleeping Patterns
Blue light exposure from technological devices causes sleep disturbances in the human body. When people look at their cellphones, laptops, etc. for a prolonged period of time, they are exposed to blue light. “Blue Light: What Is It and How Does It Affect Your Sleep?” describes blue light as “…a color in the visible light spectrum that can be seen by human eyes” whose short-wavelength produces “higher amounts of energy” than other colors. At one point in the world’s existence, blue light could only come from the sun, but now we experience it through digital screens. Because of this people’s sleep cycles are adversely affected, causing physical damage to the retina, and people are not getting valuable sleep and waking up fatigued and unrested.
First, we have the problem of blue light impacting the human eye. Exposure to blue light can damage the retina, which is a serious medical concern. If our eyes are being exposed to an artificial form of blue light which causes our eyes to become blurry and strained after a while, then imagine what is occurring when we are doing the same before going to bed.
In the article called “Blue light and Your Eyes” written by Prevent Blindness, research has found “that continued exposure to blue light over time could lead to damaged retinal cells.” Blue light exposure does irreparable damage to the retina. According to Dr. Jasmine Shaikh, MD, “blue light damages the retina and macula, the eye conditions that develop as a result are generally irreversible.”
The research conducted In the NCBI study, “Influence of blue light on photoreceptors in a live retinal explant system” has come to the same conclusion that visible blue light affects the retina cells. This damage to the human body is not only in effect for the short term but also in the long term. The researcher was able to conclude, “In our system, prolonged blue light exposure caused cell death in the ONL of retinal explants. These findings are consistent with the results of previous studies demonstrating that blue light can trigger intracellular ROS production and apoptosis in different retinal cell lines.” These are costly damages as it triggers other parts of the eye that are connected to the retina. Apoptosis is cell death which can cause a lack of blood supply which can cause more foreseeing issues. The blue light has an effect on the increase of ROS production, causes harm to cell structure and homeostasis, and results in oxidative stress. In the research, they were able to see that, “In our system, the retinal explants displayed an increase in fluorescent products of DHE in photoreceptors following exposure to blue light.” The retina which is located in the back of the eye is exposed to more of the blue light from the smart devices passing through the other parts of the front eye compared to when exposed to regular light from the sun.
We are aware that when we are on our computers we tend to get headaches after a long day of being in front of a computer screen not knowing the reason for this. The reason that makes the most sense is blue light which exposes large amounts of light causing tiredness of the body and head.
Then, there’s the problem of blue light affecting melatonin levels. Melatonin is a hormone that is naturally released at night and helps with the sleep and wake cycle. The blue light which shines on the backs of our eyes also causes damage to our brains which controls the production of melatonin. A study conducted in China in 2018 as published in the NCBI, “Research Progress About The Effect And Prevention of Blue Light On Eyes,” discovered that “…if blue light is excessive, especially at night when melatonin production peaks…[it] can also stimulate the brain, inhibit melatonin secretion, and increase corticosteroid production, thereby destroying hormonal secretion and directly affecting sleep quality.” Corticosteroid is a hormone that is created naturally in the human body at a specific pace. The blue light on the other hand affects the pace by increasing the production which can lead to more issues throughout the body like the circadian rhythm.
Because the circadian rhythm – which should notify you when it’s time to go to bed – is disrupted, a person’s body is tricked into thinking it should stay awake for longer as the circadian rhythm becomes off-balance. When the circadian rhythm which is also known as the human clock is affected the brain starts to get confused. The circadian rhythm has the job of alerting the body when to wake up and go to sleep. The blue light that is in our phones tricks the brain into thinking that it is still daytime and keeps you awake. Also, the circadian rhythm is in charge to let the body know two hours before going to sleep to produce a significant amount of melatonin to be able to get a well-rested and uninterrupted sleep.
This same conclusion has also been found in a review published in 2019 in the Journal of Biological and Medical Rhythm Research – that blue light, more than other colors of light, disrupts the production of melatonin, stated in “Blue Light, What is It, and How Does it Affect Your Sleep?” This same article references Afifa Shamim-Uzzaman, MD, an associate professor in neurology at the University of Michigan and Medical Director at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System’s Sleep Disorders Center. He explains how “blue light suppresses the secretion of melatonin for twice as long as the immediately longer green wavelength of light.” This goes to show that blue light directly impacts sleep because exposure to this light in the late evening hours interrupts the body’s ability to produce melatonin and having an insufficient amount of melatonin causes sleep disturbance. Our bodies are prone to make a sufficient amount of melatonin to have a restful sleep without our bodies walking up needlessly to our sleep. What’s more, “Blue Light, What is It, and How Does it Affect Your Sleep?” also shares research about a study that concluded that “…people who looked at e-readers before bedtime even had shorter REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, a deeper state of sleep when key parts of the brain’s memory consolidation processes happen.” A shorter REM sleep is where our brain is not really working and is resting as there is not as much rapid eye movement which is all controlled by the brain. The more that we allow our brains to rest the more well-rested we will feel in the morning. We tend to wake up in the morning feeling like our brains are full and are not intaking information well. This is because our brains are not well rested and getting sufficient quality sleep is the only way to improve this.
Blue light is everywhere we go but we can take precautions our necessity for sleep and vision isn’t taken from us. Although we adore our technological devices, eliminating video games is more important than our eyesight and the health benefits of a good night’s sleep. According to the insider, “Though dark mode may not help to protect vision, it may help you fall asleep more quickly if you often use electronic devices before bed.” This is helpful as we tend to have difficulty getting off our phones at night and because of dark mode, this will not only benefit us by emitting less blue light but also help us fall asleep quicker.
References
Blue Light and Your Eyes. Illinois. Prevent Blindness
Roehlecke, C. Schumann, U. Ader, M. Knels, L. Funk R. April 8, 2011. Influence of Blue Light on Photoreceptors in a Live Retinal Explant System. China. NCBI
Chai, C. July 12, 2021. Blue Light: What Is It and How Does It Affect Your Sleep?.New York. Everyday Health.
Laderer, A. January 22, 2021. Why dark mode isn’t actually better for your eyes. New York. Insider
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Counterintuitive Fall 2022 
Blue light exposure from technological devices causes sleep disturbances in the human body. When a person looks at their cellphone, laptop, etc. for a prolonged period of time, they are exposed to blue light. “Blue Light: What Is It and How Does It Affect Your Sleep?” describes blue light as “…a color in the visible light spectrum that can be seen by human eyes” whose short wavelength produces “higher amounts of energy” than other colors. At one point in the world’s existence, blue light could only come from the sun, but now we experience it through digital screens and because of this, peoples’ sleep cycles are negatively impacted. More specifically, blue light causes physical damage to the retina, and it also disrupts the human body’s internal clock, or the circadian rhythm.
P1. A few notes on your very successful opening paragraph.
—Please use plurals to avoid number disagreement with your pronouns. “A person . . . their cellphone” is a disagreement error. “When people look at their cellphones” corrects the problem.
—”Negatively impacted” is vague. The verb “disrupted” is much more precise for a “cycle.”
—LOVE the detail that we have INVENTED a new and pervasive source of blue light!
—Transition problem: your “more specifically” should modify ONLY the cycle disruption. The PHYSICAL DAMAGE to the retina is crucial, but it is not a MORE SPECIFIC detail about interrupted sleep cycles, UNLESS the physical damage keeps us awake. Does it?
First we have the problem of blue light impacting the human eye. Exposure to blue light can damage the retina, which is a serious medical concern. If our eyes are being exposed to an artificial form of blue light which causes our eyes to become watery after a while, then imagine what is occurring when you are doing the same before going to bed.
P2. Now you DO seem to be saying that damage to the eye can SOMETHING to our sleep. But you’re hinting and appear to be withholding evidence or hoping we’ll draw the right conclusion from eye-watering. It’s a weak argument.
—More pronoun trouble. Eliminate YOU, YOUR, YOURS, YOURSELF, YOURSELVES. We permitted this once at the top of your Definition argument for rhetorical effect, but it’s bad policy overall. “If OUR eyes . . . when WE are doing the same before bed.”
In the article called “Blue light and Your Eyes” written by Prevent Blindness, research has found “that continued exposure to blue light over time could lead to damaged retinal cells.” These retina cells are in the retina portion of your eye and these cells are not able to repair themselves. The retina portion of the eye is incorporated into the beneficiary of vision. With the damage to this portion of the eye which is caused by the exposure to the blue light from technological devices, your vision will be impaired over time.
P3. Too many words for one claim. Blue light exposure does IRREPARABLE damage to the retina. End of claim.
P4. A good first draft of a paragraph containing lots of jargon that sounds impressive but has no meaning for the reader. You’ll need to guide us to an understanding of the damage done to “explants,” the importance of “the ONL of retinal explants,” whether “intracellular ROS production” is a good or bad thing, and what “apoptosis” means.
P5. Does P4 somehow explain the blurry eye syndrome you mention in P5? If not, why does 5 follow 4?
P6. The melatonin claim comes out of nowhere but sounds important. Unless we were thoroughly prepared to understand its importance in your Definition argument, we’ll need to know (causally) what you mean by the vague “affecting” melatonin levels. Does blue light INCREASE melatonin levels, sending the body into STAY AWAKE AND ALERT mode? Does that “melatonin overload” keep our bodies from achieving deep and valuable sleep? If so, say so.
P7. Once we read P7, it turns out P6 served no purpose. Absorb P6 into P7.
P8. I’m confused. In P6, you said “blue light AFFECTS melatonin levels” which fails to inform us whether it BOOSTS of PROHIBITS melatonin. You haven’t told us yet whether we NEED melatonin to sleep or whether it KEEPS US AWAKE. You clarify in P7 that “if blue light is excessive, especially at night when melatonin production peaks…[it] can also stimulate the brain, inhibit melatonin secretion, and increase corticosteroid production, thereby destroying hormonal secretion and directly affecting sleep quality.” THAT seems to tell us that we DO NEED melatonin and that blue light REDUCES melatonin, which in turn INCREASES CORTICOSTEROID production and THAT’S what keeps us awake.
A good tour guide would be sure we knew earlier that corticosteroid keeps us awake and that melatonin production (natural to our bodies except when THWARTED BY BLUE LIGHT) (and which dampens the production of corticosteroid) is vital to our good sleep. A classic Causal Chain.
P8. One last question about this paragraph. You tag it with a claim about REM that either IS or IS NOT part of the same causal chain. This claim might need its own paragraph unless low melatonin is ALSO the cause of shorter REM sleep.
P9. Needless words.
P10. If you can make this paragraph as good as your introduction, you can keep it. Otherwise, it doesn’t seem to serve much purpose. You’ve established that blue light damages the retina and interrupts beneficial sleep. MAYBE you can find a source that offers the good advice: “Understandably, modern life compels us to spend too much time on our devices, but switching our screens to Dark Mode and avoiding screens for two hours before sleep are two good ways to limit disruption to our valuable sleep.” Find something like that.
Thank you for the comments I have used them to improve my causal argument. I am a bit confused about how to make my closing paragraph stronger and also how else I can explain more in my body paragraphs. Should I be adding more sources or just more details to let the reader know what information will be thrown at them?
To make your conclusion better, find the source that says what I’ve suggested. The rest of it is needless repetition and summary.
To answer the rest of your question:
I’ll do a brief review paragraph by paragraph as if I were reading this essay for the first time. Just a sentence of advice per paragraph.
Blue light exposure . . .
You provide useful background about blue light, then name three or four ways it harms us:
—sleep cycles are adversely affected
—damage to the retina
—disrupts circadian rhythm
Those are all good too, but isn’t “altered sleep cycles” the same as “disrupted circadian rhythm”?
Neither says we suffer any harm. Mention that we don’t get beneficial sleep, wake up unrested, suffer fatigue all day.
First we have the problem . . .
Not a good idea to leave the consequence to your reader’s imagination. No guide to the Pyramids would say: “That’s a huge pile of rock. Imagine how long it took to build it!”
In the article called “Blue light . . .
In your two short paragraphs, you’ve said exposure to blue light
—can damage the retina
—could lead to damaged retinal cells
—does irreparable damage to the retina
Can, could, and does. The last one is your bold claim. Isn’t there a source that confirms that it DOES, how much, and that it is truly irreparable?
The research conducted
And here it is. “prolonged blue light exposure caused cell death in the ONL of retinal explants”
The only trouble is we depend on you for an explanation of ONL and retinal explants. What you explain about ROS and apoptosis doesn’t sound too serious. Cell death does. Can you explain it better?
We are aware that
The explanation I think makes as much sense is eye strain, which I experience whether I read from a screen or too much paper.
Then, there’s the problem
You should make clear here that blue light degrades sleep in two ways. Each is worth a paragraph.
1. It increases corticosteroid production, which destroys hormonal secretion, which directly degrades sleep QUALITY.
2. AND It disrupts circadian rhythm, which tricks the body into staying up later, which deprives us of enough TIME to effectively sleep.
This same conclusion
You’ve piled up the evidence that late-hour blue light exposure degrades sleep. Make a transition at the end of this paragraph to demonstrate WHAT THAT ACTUALLY MEANS. The shorter-REM-sleep detail is new and specific. Be sure you highlight it as an EXAMPLE of WHY IT MATTERS that we get plenty of useful sleep. We’re not just groggy in the morning: we haven’t consolidated our memories.
Blue light is everywhere
The quote from bustle is helpful, but not much. They draw the wrong conclusion. You don’t care if the screen is “jarring” unless the subdued color scheme helps convince the brain that it’s nighttime and we should be sleeping. Can you help them say that? You don’t quite say it yourself either. But you should Night Shift reduces blue light AND eases our transition from broad daylight conditions to an atmosphere more conducive to sleep.
Thank you for all the suggestions. I have looked over all the paragraph comments and have made those changes. Would I be able to get a regrade? Also, does the separation of the two paragraphs look good, and is there more needed in those paragraphs. Does my quote in the conclusion look better and if not can I please get some help on that.
Your revisions are quite impressive, NJ. The paragraph separation is effective. As for the quote in the last paragraph, it’s functional if not thrilling. The paragraph starts with about half a dozen passive verbs, making us all feel like disembodied victims of circumstances. If you’re going to use the paragraph to recommend we take action to protect ourselves, try to empower your readers all the way through.
PASSIVE VERBS:
ACTIVE VERBS:
If you tell me you see the power of those changes, you can have the sentences.
I have regraded your post.
I agree professor that some changes needed to be made to the last paragraph. I had taken out a lot of unneeded words and changed up the wording for it to make more sense. I have also made some changes to the grammar. Can I please get a regrade?
There are serious problems with the last paragraph, NJ. I know you don’t want to hear it, but it’s the first draft of this section, and it sounds like one.
—Blue light is everywhere we go. Fine.
—We can take precautions. Fine. To do what?
—Our necessity for sleep and vision isn’t taken from us. Not fine. Meaningless. Our NECESSITY for sleep can’t be taken from us.
—You might mean: Blue light is everywhere we go, but we can LIMIT OUR EXPOSURE to PROTECT our sleep and vision.
—Although we adore our technological devices. Good.
—Eliminating video games is more important than our eyesight. Not good. The opposite of what you mean.
—You might mean: Although we adore our technological devices, our eyesight and the health benefits of a good night’s sleep are MUCH MORE IMPORTANT THAN playing video games before bedtime.
—Good.
—This is helpful. Not good. This will not only benefit us. Both are not good. Antecedents are unclear for both. We don’t know what “this” is.
—You might mean: Since most of us DO use devices before bed (and we’re likely to continue doing so) at least dark mode can mitigate the exposure to blue light that prevents falling asleep.
I know you think three or four rounds of revision should eliminate every possible objection, but revision is never over for serious writers, NJ. The more practice you have writing, the more revisions you go through BEFORE typing the words of your first draft sentences. In other words, better writers Pre-Revise. And STILL, they want to go back to improve their drafts.
I appreciate your willingness to submit to the process.
Fix that last paragraph, and we can regrade.