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How newborns affect your sleep, in three Fitbit charts
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Research says parents lose 44 days of sleep over the course of the first year of a baby's life, so they sleep about 5.1 hours a night. That number may be even lower at the beginning of that year. - photo by Herb Scribner
Herb Scribner
Deseret News
Published: Nov 10, 2015, 3:39 AM
Its not exactly surprising news that new parents dont get a lot of sleep. Research says new parents lose about 44 days of sleep in the first year of their newborns life, according to the Daily Mail. In fact, new parents often get about 5.1 hours of sleep per night.

But that number may be even lower when the child is first born. BabyCenter blogger Sara McGinnis had her sister-in-law, who had just given birth to a baby girl, Alison, use Fitbits sleep tracker app to monitor how things change after baby arrives.

The Fitbit tracker, which measured her sister-in-laws sleep patterns for several nights the week of Alison's birth, showed that the new mother wasn't anywhere close to even getting a total of eight hours of sleep per day. McGinnis wrote it was just "an average of four hours and four minutes a day, with no one period of sleep lasting so much as three hours."

My heart goes out to all of you going through sleep deprivation right now, McGinnis wrote in her post. Know that someday you will snooze again, and in the meantime heres hoping your little one is a(s) darling as this sweet thing.
Its toxic: New study says blue light from tech devices can speed up blindness
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A new study from the University of Toledo found that blue light from digital devices can transform molecules in your eyes retina into cell killers. - photo by Herb Scribner
Herb Scribner
Deseret News
Published: Aug 13, 2018, 1:39 PM
It turns out checking Twitter or Facebook before bed is bad for your health.

A new study from the University of Toledo found that blue light from digital devices can transform molecules in your eyes retina into cell killers.

That process can lead to age-related macular degeneration, which is a leading cause of blindness in the United States, according to the researchs extract.

Blue light is a common issue for many modern Americans. Blue light is emitted from screens, most notably at night, causing sleep loss, eye strain and a number of other issues.

Dr. Ajith Karunarathne, assistant professor in the UT Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, said our constant exposure to blue light cant be blocked by the lens or cornea.

"It's no secret that blue light harms our vision by damaging the eye's retina. Our experiments explain how this happens, and we hope this leads to therapies that slow macular degeneration, such as a new kind of eye drop, he said.

Macular degeneration is an incurable eye disease that often affects those in their 50s or 60s. It occurs after the death of photoreceptor cells in the retina. Those cells need retinal to sense light and help signal the brain.

The research team found blue light exposure created poisonous chemical molecules that killed photoreceptor cells

"It's toxic. If you shine blue light on retinal, the retinal kills photoreceptor cells as the signaling molecule on the membrane dissolves," said Kasun Ratnayake, a Ph.D. student researcher working in Karunarathne's cellular photo chemistry group. "Photoreceptor cells do not regenerate in the eye. When they're dead, they're dead for good."

However, the researchers found a molecule called alpha-tocopherol, which comes from Vitamin E, can help prevent cell death, according to Futurism.

The researchers plan to review how light from TVs, cellphones and tablet screens affect the eyes as well.

"If you look at the amount of light coming out of your cellphone, it's not great but it seems tolerable," said Dr. John Payton, visiting assistant professor in the UT Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. "Some cellphone companies are adding blue-light filters to the screens, and I think that is a good idea."

Indeed, Apple released a Night Shift mode two years ago to help quell blue lights strain on the eyes, according to The Verge. The screen will dim into a warmer, orange light that will cause less stress on the eyes.