Parenting brings with it many joys, along with one constant agony: a perpetual lack of sleep.

After Charlie was born, my lifelong problems with sleep got much worse. Before he was born, I could always catch up on sleep by sleeping in on weekends or taking a nap during the day. But as soon as Charlie was born, sleep became a zero sum game. The only way that I could sleep is if Mrs. Bee didn’t (or vice versa). There are only so many times you can play that game before someone gets bitter.

Finally, I stumbled across an article which changed my life when Charlie was about six months old.

The article mapped out a simple two-step program for getting on a regular sleep schedule:

1. Get bright light in the morning
2. Avoid bad light at night

The advice was designed for night owls like me, but it’s actually shockingly relevant for parents too.

When we first had Charlie, we would often stay inside the house in the morning and not get any bright light til later in the day (when it doesn’t help your circadian rhythm). And then late at night while giving Charlie a bottle, I would often break out my iPhone and surf the web. When you first turn on an iPhone, it seems shockingly bright. But over time, your eyes adjust and I could tilt the phone away to discreetly read my email while Charlie took his nighttime bottles (usually with his eyes closed).

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Well it turns out that bright screens wreak havoc on your circadian rhythms late at night. I thought that waking up for Charlie was screwing up my sleep patterns… but actually, it was the iPhone! Oh and also, the flatscreen TV I would watch while killing time til Charlie’s next bottle. Or the computer monitors I would use all evening long. Or any combination of the above.

Luckily, the former co-founders of Picasa have created a computer program which solves this problem for computer monitors. Here’s how it works (emphases added):

Most computer screens’ lighting is set to replicate daylight light conditions, and are calibrated to 6,500 Kelvins. The Kelvin is the unit of absolute temperature, and settings of over 5,000 K are referred to as being ‘cool’ colour temperatures, and emit a blue-white light. Noon daylight has a colour temperature of 5,600 K. So, for those of us who spend all day, and indeed, much of the evening hours in front of a screen emitting a colour temperature 6,500 K we find that we end up receiving an abnormal amount of simulated daylight. This can be seen by the blue hue emitted by a computer screen in the dark.

Medical studies carried out at Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois, have shown that abnormal levels of blue light can interrupt the body’s circadian rhythm, an inbuilt biological clock that influences, amongst others, our co-ordination, cardiovascular rhythm and our sleep patterns. Exposure to daylight levels of blue light at night time can, according to the study, delay the secretion of melatonin, which causes sleepiness.

The program is called f.lux, and I’ve installed it on all of our home PCs (it’s available on Mac and Linux as well). The result has been incredible! Around 5 pm, my computer screens start to dim… and as the sun goes down, my monitors get darker. At first I thought this would disrupt my work, but I barely notice the difference at all. In fact, now when I use monitors that haven’t been f.luxed, I feel like they are way too bright.

I’ve also turned down the brightness on my flatscreen TV, since we only ever watch it at night. And in the evenings, I manually turn down the brightness on my iPhone and iPad apps (there’s a f.lux app for that too, but your iOS device has to be jailbroken).

I’ve also been making it a point to get bright light in the morning. Bee and I walk Charlie to daycare, and whenever Mrs. Bee and I can spare the time, we’ll extend the walk to the local coffeeshop. It’s a good chance to spend some QT together without the kids, and also to get bright light in the morning. I also used a light lamp for a while, until my sleep was back on track.

The result has been nothing less than amazing. I no longer am a night owl, and find myself able to sleep as early as 8 or 9 pm if I have to. And most of all, if I do have to wake up late at night for a crying child, I’m usually able to get back to sleep pretty quickly. I attribute this to my new awareness of the dangers of “bad light at night,” and also to reducing my media consumption in the evenings. I will sometimes backslide on that front (I’ve been on the PC much more in the evenings lately, because of work), but at least I know now what I can do to get back on track sleep-wise.

If you are a parent or a parent-to-bee, you can help regain control over your sleep with the following:

* Turn down the brightness on your iPhones and flatscreen TV.
* Install f.lux on your PC, Mac and Linux computers.
* Either go on a walk first thing in the mornings, or buy some of the lamps featured here to replicate similar lights inside of your home.

One last note: I don’t have science to back me up on this one, but babies are people too. I wouldn’t be surprised if your baby’s sleep is getting disrupted by all the bright screens in the nursery late at night! Practicing proper light hygiene with your smartphones, tablets, flatscreens and laptops can improve not only your own sleep, but also potentially improve the sleep of your little one!


Charlie with an ipad at 6 months

For me, a perpetual lack of sleep has been by far the hardest part of becoming a parent. The above techniques don’t completely resolve that, but they can make a surprisingly big difference! Second only to having a baby that sleeps through the night… if you figure that one out, please let me know.

Do you use bright screens after the sun goes down? Do you have problems sleeping even when you’re tired?  If you’ve struggled with falling asleep, I’d love to hear more!