BY RANIA BOUCHER, Director 

 Being glued to your smartphone at night may not be so smart if you’re trying to stick to a healthy diet. A research recently done on rats exposed at night to just 1 hour of blue light – the same type of light emitted by your smartphone – consumed more sugar afterward than when they were not exposed to blue light at night.

It’s believed that retinal cells in the eye are extra sensitive to blue light and send information to areas of the brain that regulate appetite. Of course, we need to see human studies before it’s possible to conclude that artificial light exposure at night can make us more likely to raid the pantry for sugary foods. However, it is highly recommended to scale down screen time at night or use blue light blocking glasses or use a program which dials back the blue light that devices emit after sunset.

 As hard as it might be to stop — looking at your phone at night is a terrible idea!

The Smartphone blue light doesn’t only mess with your hormones that control hunger and sugar cravings but also with your brain and entire body by disrupting your melatonin and therefore your sleep pattern which leads to serious health problems.

Lack of sleep can lead to neurotoxins build up which leads to fatigue. A poor night’s sleep due to exposure to blue light will affect your cognitive ability, impair your memory and make it harder to learn. When your body clock is thrown off by light exposure, you become more prone to depression. Not to mention that there’s an increased risk of prostate and breast cancer due to disturbed sleep and light exposure.

 If you can, try to stay away from screens before you fall asleep or at least keep them out of your bed.