Sleep Texting: How To Avoid This New Ailment Affecting Geeks

It’s been all over the Internet lately…Apparently the dangers of sleep texting are severe since people seem to be making such a big deal out of it. To me, it screams ‘first world problem,’ and it’s almost offensive to call it an ailment considering all the real ailments in the world. However, just for fun, I’m going to go with it today. Have you ever sleep texted? As recently as last week, I’ve sleep texted, sleep tweeted and sleep emailed. It’s a regular occurrence for me.

When I sleep email, I usually reach for my laptop (which is on my bed somewhere), open it, and type the email. The strange thing is, I somehow incorporate it all into a dream. When I wake up in the morning, I don’t know until I look in my sent box if I really sent those emails or just dreamed about sending them.

The weird thing, which anyone who has ever done this knows, is that it adds a whole new layer to the sleep cycle. Sleep is no longer something we lay in bed and do for an extended period of time. I know for me, sleep is something that happens in short bursts between awake time. It’s odd.

Back in 2011, when I was a total Twitter addict, I even had a reporter call me after learning that I was sleep tweeting. He included me in an article called Tweet Relief: Twitter Addicts Get Their 140 Fix. I didn’t feel good about being included in that article. As a matter of fact, it made me feel a little crazy. I found out later though that many people are secretly on their devices throughout the night. Maybe we are all a little crazy. Maybe you’re sleep texting or sleep emailing. Or maybe you are just so stressed about work that you can’t put it down, even when you’re supposed to be sleeping.

There is a difference though. Some people wake up during a sleep cycle and consciously get on their devices as they think of things they need to do. Other people are sleep texting messages that make no sense at all because they are actually sleeping when they send them. I think there is a hazy gray area in the middle too, which can be a combination of both – at least that is what I’ve experienced.

According to Dr. Josh Werber, a sleep and snoring specialist, “Sleep is a very important restorative process.” We already know that the lack of sleep is associated with heart disease, depression, high blood pressure, obesity, immune system dysfunction and other issues. Add to that the stress and social awkwardness of sleep texting or sleep emailing, and now we’ve got an even new set of issues to deal with.

So why can’t we just relax enough to get a good night’s sleep? Why can’t we easily stop the sleep texting and sleep emailing? I don’t know the answer to those questions. According to experts, technology is seductive. If you want to avoid sleep texting, you should consider turning off your devices an hour before going to sleep. Also, it’s good to store your devices far away from your bed (or even in a different room) while you are sleeping.

Taking those drastic measures seems silly to me, but then again, it’s not silly when I send erratic emails in the middle of the night…so maybe I should try these ideas. I don’t know that putting my devices in another room would help though. Maybe I need to lock them in my car instead. That might be far enough away from my bed.