Big screen, Little Dreams

By: Aziah, Roslyn, Jack, and Adam

Sleep, every human needs it, especially teenagers. It provides us with energy and is vital for our mental and physical health. So how do our screens stop us from getting that needed sleep?

How Your Phone is Affecting Your Physical Health

Everyone knows that in order to have good physical health is to have a good sleep but sometimes you tend to find yourself looking at your phone at night. Being on your phone late at night can cause health issues like headaches, increase risk of cancer, and many more side effects. This happens because our body repairs itself in its sleep, we practically heal ourselves. Chicagotribune.com says, "When you close your eyes and fall asleep, your brain can attend to other issues within the body. If there are areas that need to heal, the brain can trigger the release of hormones that encourage tissue growth to repair blood vessels." This proves that when we don't sleep we are hurting our bodies. Chicagotribune.com also says sleep can help repair white blood cells and help relax body muscles. When we don’t sleep our bodies cannot be healed properly and so our health will deteriorate. So imagine what that would do to our mental health.

How Your Phone is Affecting Your Mental Health

Teens may think that your phone isn't harmful, meanwhile your parents would tell you to

stay off that phone. You don’t think much of it because most people are on their phones every

second of the day. Now I want you to ask yourself, how much time do you spend on your

phone? We can create unhealthy attachments to our screens, who wouldn’t? We have

everything we want on a device at the tap of a button, we can contact loved ones, friends, make

new friends, or even explore new interests. And as good as that all may sound, there comes a

time when we take a break and spend some time in the real world. And then it gets a little boring

or lonely so we go back to our phones. SleepAdvisor.com says lack of sleep can cause sleep

deprivation and could end up forming certain mental health disorders such as schizophrenia,

paranoia and hallucinations. Lack of sleep can also cause depression. Sleep researcher Patrik. H.

Finan said, "Poor sleep may create difficulties regulating emotions that, in turn, may leave you

more vulnerable to depression in future.” This is proof that not sleeping will cause many side

effects.

Over All Conclusion

In conclusion, we all need breaks from our phone so we don’t set ourselves up for these problems

that were listed above. As youth is the future working adults contributing to day to day life, we

should all make sure we contain a healthy mind and body. And also make connections outside of

our devices. Pick up a book, go outside, find new friends outside of the internet, meet up with a

online friends outside of the internet, visit loved ones, or even pick up a new hobbie. Your phone

doesn’t need to revolve around every moment of your life.

Thank you for reading our article.