Melatonin: How Your Phone, Tv, other Technologies can Help you Sleep Well
For years, smartphones, tablets, and other electronic devices have been blamed for disrupting sleep. The blue light emitted from their screens suppresses melatonin production, making it harder for users to fall asleep. However, as our understanding of sleep science has advanced, so has technology.
Today, many gadgets are designed not only to minimize sleep disruption but to actively enhance melatonin production and improve sleep quality. From blue light filters on phones to smart lighting systems and wearable sleep trackers, modern technology is shifting from a sleep disruptor to a sleep enhancer. This article explores how these innovations are helping people achieve better rest in a digital age.
Here are things you'll know from this article:
- What is Melatonin
- What is Blue Light
- How Smartphones can Help Melatonin Production
- Blue Light Blocking Devices
- Other Gadgets/Techs that can Improve Melatonin Production
- What Color of Light Best Stimulates Melatonin Production
What is Melatonin
Melatonin is a natural chemical in your body that helps control when you sleep and wake up. Your brain makes it when it gets dark, which helps you feel sleepy. When it’s bright, your body makes less melatonin, so you feel awake. In a nutshell, melatonin is the hormone that helps you sleep.
Melatonin is synthesized from the amino acid tryptophan in the pineal gland of the brain and plays a key role in regulating sleep-wake cycles. It is classified as an indoleamine, meaning it has an indole ring structure, similar to serotonin.
What is Blue Light
Blue light is a type of light that comes from the sun, phone screens, computers, TVs, and LED lights. It has short, high-energy wavelengths that can keep you alert and awake.
Your body makes a sleep hormone called melatonin, which helps you feel tired at night. When it gets dark, your brain produces more melatonin, signaling that it’s time to sleep. But when you look at bright screens, especially before bedtime, the blue light tricks your brain into thinking it’s still daytime. This reduces melatonin production and makes it harder to fall asleep.
Too much blue light at night can lead to trouble sleeping, feeling tired during the day, and even long-term sleep problems.
How Smartphones can Help Melatonin Production
Smartphones, like Android and iPhones, have added special features to help reduce blue light exposure, especially at night. Here are some ways they do this:
1. Night Mode (or Night Shift)
Most smartphones now have a setting called Night Mode (on Android) or Night Shift (on iPhones). This feature changes the screen’s colors to a warmer, more yellowish tone, reducing the amount of blue light. You can set it to turn on automatically in the evening or adjust it manually when needed.
2. Dark Mode
Dark Mode changes the background of apps and screens to black or dark gray instead of bright white. This reduces overall light exposure, including blue light, making it easier on the eyes at night.
3. Blue Light Filter
Some phones have a Blue Light Filter setting that directly reduces blue light without changing screen colors too much. This helps keep the display clear while still protecting your eyes.
4. Screen Dimming & Adaptive Brightness
Smartphones can adjust screen brightness automatically based on the lighting around you. When it’s dark, the screen gets dimmer, reducing blue light exposure naturally.
5. Focus and Sleep Modes
Newer phones include Sleep Mode or Focus Mode, which help you avoid using your phone late at night. They mute notifications and remind you to put the phone down, helping you sleep better.
By using these features, smartphones help people reduce blue light exposure and improve their melatonin and sleep habits. Finding it difficult to turn on these features on your mobile devices, learn how to turn on and off blue light on iphones and android phones.
Blue Light Blocking Devices
1. Blue light blocking glasses
These glasses have special lenses that filter out blue light, reducing eye strain, impact on melatonin levels, and improving sleep quality.
These glasses are best for people who spend long hours on screens, especially at night.
The anti blue light glasses come with prescription and non-prescription options. For the prescription option, you can meet your doctor or a healthcare professional. Amazon and Temu are online marketplaces where you can get slick and outrightly affordable non-prescription options for blue light blocking glasses.
2. Screen protectors with blue light filters
These are thin films that stick onto phone, tablet, or computer screens to block blue light. This is best for people who don’t want to wear blue light blocking glasses but need continuous protection.
Available for smartphones, tablets, and computer monitors, some of these screen protectors on Amazon have anti-glare coatings to reduce reflections from your computer.
3. Apps – Software like f.lux (PC)
Just like Night Shift/Night Light on mobile devices, software like f.lux for Windows, Mac, and Linux, or built-in modes on PC adjust screen colors to warmer tones.
These are designed for those who work on digital devices for long hours and want an automatic solution.
If you decide not to go for apps or PC softwares, you can enable Windows Night Light or macOS Night Shift to reduce blue light.
4. TV Blue Light Reduction Features
Watching TV can strain your eye especially during nighttime. This strain is mostly caused by the emitted blue light from TVs.
To reduce this blue light emission, some television makers have introduced into smart TVs what could be termed “Warm” or “Eye Comfort” mode.
This feature is best for people who watch TV at night and want to protect their sleep. For this to be enabled, check settings under Display or Picture Mode and select a warmer color temperature.
5. Blue Light Blocking Contact Lenses
Blue light blocking contact lenses are a newer type of lens designed to reduce the amount of blue light that enters your eyes, especially from digital screens.
These lenses are infused with a special filter that blocks or absorbs a portion of the blue light spectrum (typically between 400–500 nm), which is emitted from screens (phones, tablets, computers), LED lighting, and the sun.
ACUVUE OASYS, a major brand in this business, have lenses that adjust to lighting conditions and block blue light and UV rays.
These lenses are best for people who frequently use the screen at the office, school, home.
Other Gadgets/Techs that can Improve Melatonin Production
1. Smart Lighting
Smart bulbs, like Philips Hue, Govee, Wyze Bulbs, can shift to warmer tones in the evening to reduce blue light exposure. Warmer tones improve the production of melatonin, which in turn helps one to sleep.
2. Sunset Simulation Lamps
Since artificial light interrupts circadian cycle, smart lighting like the sunset simulation lamps can help improve melatonin production. These simulation lamps gradually dim to mimic natural sunset, signaling the body to produce melatonin.
3. Sleep-Enhancing Wearables
Sleep-enhancing wearables have become a key tool in helping people better understand and improve their sleep quality. These devices, like smartwatches (Apple Watch, Fitbit, Oura Ring) and EEG headbands, go beyond simple step-counting to offer advanced insights into how we sleep, while also providing features that support melatonin production and encourage healthier nighttime routines.
Most modern wearables—like the Apple Watch, Fitbit, Whoop, and Oura Ring—use sensors to monitor your sleep stages (light, deep, and REM), total sleep duration, and nighttime movements. This data helps users identify patterns or problems that could be affecting melatonin release, such as inconsistent sleep times or late-night light exposure.
Another sleep-enhancing wearable is the EEG (Electroencephalogram). The EEG headband is a wearable device that measures brainwave activity using small sensors placed on the forehead or scalp. These headbands are designed to monitor your brain’s electrical activity in real time and are commonly used for:
- Tracking sleep patterns
- Meditation and relaxation
- Biofeedback training
- Stress and focus monitoring
The Muse Headband provides real-time audio feedback based on your brain activity, which makes it perfect for meditation.
4. White noise machines
White noise machines are devices that produce a consistent, soothing sound designed to mask background noises and create a calm environment for sleep. They’ve gained popularity as a non-invasive, drug-free solution for people who struggle with falling asleep or staying asleep—especially in noisy environments
White noise is a mix of all sound frequencies played at the same intensity, creating a consistent "shhh" sound similar to a fan, air conditioner, or static on a TV.
Some of the cheapest white noise machines on temu, can mask disruptive sounds during sleep, promote absolute relaxation, help the brain associate sound with sleep, and create a sleep-friendly environment anywhere they are applied.
If you're easily triggered by environmental or surrounding noise at night, and you don't intend using medications, white noise machine can readily be the best option for you.
What Color of Light Best Stimulates Melatonin Production
Your eyes don’t just help you see—they also send signals to your brain about what time it is. Special receptors in your eyes respond to different colors of light, especially blue light, and tell your brain whether it’s day or night.
Red or Warm Amber Light
If you’re looking for a color that supports or even slightly stimulates melatonin production, the winner is red light. This opposes the blue and white light that suppress melatonin.
The red and amber light wavelengths (600–700 nm) have minimal impact on melatonin suppression, making them ideal for evening lighting.
Do you want better sleep? Try reading under a dim red light or using “night mode” on your devices, keeping the room cool for higher melatonin production. You can also follow the 8 ways rule to stay asleep longer at night.
Reference
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