Like to tweet and check email and Facebook right before bed? It could not only be cutting into your precious sleep time but also wrecking your sex life, according to a new online poll.
Last week British website BroadbandChoices.co.uk released results of a survey of 2,000 adults, with nearly 15 percent of respondents admitting to having less sex due to web-surfing habits.
Nearly half of respondents said they spend up to 90 minutes on laptops, tablets, and smartphone while between the sheets, pushing the average time they fall asleep to midnight. Ten years ago, the average bedtime was 10:30 pm.
About 25 percent of respondents say they surf the web in bed, while 15 percent watch television on their laptops or tablets before bed. Older respondents, however, said they prefer to read a book.
A compilation of research on the effects of gadgets on sleep patterns could be shocking enough to keep people awake at night.
According to a recent TeleNav survey in the US, one in three smartphone owners claim that they would rather go without sex than go without their handset for a week. The 2011 Sleep in America Poll, a study designed specifically to assess and understand the impact of technology on sleeping patterns, revealed that 95 percent of people admitted to browsing the web, watching TV or texting in the hour immediately before bedtime.
In separate research, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Lighting Research Center in the US also found that looking at a backlit screen, like those on iPads and other tablets, can lead to sleeplessness in that it suppresses melatonin.