I can sleep now! :D

I've been having a horrible time of getting to sleep at night for a long time. I was surfing CNN the other night and found an article called Trouble Sleeping? Maybe It's Your iPad. I don't have an iPad, but I clicked it anyway, and it did talk about computers too.

According to the article, computer monitors/laptop monitors/iPads/etc put out a lot of blue light. Blue light is the kind of light that's outside during the day. The light inside at night is usually more red or pink-ish (warmer).

The article linked to a freeware program called f.lux (there's PC and Mac versions - I'm on Mac). You install the program, give it your zip code (so that it can calculate what time sundown is), and then tell it what kind of light you have in your house (halogen, florescent, tungsten [old-fashioned incandescent bulbs]). Then at sundown, f.lux adjusts your monitor to match the type of light you have in your house.

I've got incandescent bulbs in my room, and so at sundown my monitor slowly turns reddish - not enough to distort anything, but enough that I notice.

And a funny thing happened.

I'm able to fall asleep.

And I'm able to wake up in the morning!

My bedtime right now is about 1 am and usually I lay awake for a long time. But now I'm able to fall asleep a lot faster and I wake up a lot more refreshed! Usually I wake up at the alarm, reach over to turn it off, and roll over and pass out again. But now I can actually sit up and get up. It's amazing :D

Maybe I've finally found the tool to manage my insomnia! And for free!

Yay. :D :D :D

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