Is It Safe to Wear Your Watch to Bed? (Apple Watch)
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The watch is a great piece of engineering that is handy for almost any occasion. It can be difficult to take off once you’ve fallen in love with it.
Is it safe to wear your watch to bed? Wearing your watch to bed is not recommended since it may be uncomfortable and affect sleep quality. It can also be a distraction since you may feel the need always to check it. Also, some watches emit small amounts of radiation. Although not considered dangerous, you may want to avoid it.
The watch’s primary function is to tell time. It is also a fashionable item. Unless you want to look good while you sleep, then it is generally better to have it off during the night. Instead, place it on your nightstand during the night. You could also use an alarm clock or your phone.
Over time, the watch has had many improvements. Modern designs now act as an accessory to complement outfits and even personal styles. Because of the diversity of watches, some occasions make it okay to sleep in bed with your watch on. With these improvements, however, it’s important to understand the dangers of sleeping with your watch on.
Why You Should Avoid Sleeping with Your Watch on
There have been no known cases of serious harm from sleeping with watches. If you’ve always slept with your watch on, then don’t let this article scare you. That being said, the primary reason why you would want to avoid sleeping with your watch is for your comfort and quality of sleep. It is also to protect your watch from any damage that might occur during the night.
Staying Safe from Radiation
Some watch companies make use of tritium illumination, which gives the glow-in-the-dark effect. This effect, however, emits minute radiation levels. This case is the same for luminous dials on analog watches (that glow at night and fade out over time). The catch here is that the radiation levels are low enough not to cause any harm, so you should be fine.
It is also noteworthy that these radiation levels are more significant in smartwatches than digital watches. If you are sensitive to this, you should know that it is better to refrain from wearing smartwatches. Despite this, numerous studies are still undergoing to determine the overall health impacts and effects of radiation emission from these wearable watches.
Because these radiations are only small, so long as you do not expose yourself too long to these gadgets, especially when not in use, you don’t have anything to worry about.
Monitor your sleep activity. Are you getting good, quality sleep while wearing your watch? This question is the most important to consider.
Are There Any Benefits to Sleeping with Watches?
As already mentioned, some occasions make it okay to sleep with your watch on. Here are some of these points.
- Tell the time: For one, the most primary reason for using a watch during sleep is to be able to tell time if you happen to wake up, and it’s still dark outside. People might be randomly waking up at different times of the night, especially when they have an irregular sleeping pattern or disrupted sleep.
- Track sleep: Accelerometers are motion sensors that monitor your sleep-wake cycle. If your watch comes with this, the device will detect your movement. Accelerometers are excellent if you want to track your sleep behavior.
- Multiple features: The usefulness of wearing watches also comes with features like an alarm, sleep tracker, and heart rate monitor. Breathing can also be measured. In the long run, tracking your health will add insights to your lifestyle. The LETSCOM Fitness Tracker (view on Amazon) is waterproof and has an excellent heart rate monitor, as well as an activity tracker, among other useful features.
- Improve sleep: Using sleep trackers can make you well-aware of your sleeping patterns and will more likely increase the likelihood of you being mindful of your sleep; thus, rest will become a priority, and health will not be compromised. Tracking your biometric data is one-way technology, and innovations for sleep could offer to make you more engaged in the totality of your health.
Is It a Good Idea to Track Your Sleep?
What would be a good reason for you to track your sleep? The conditions below are the times most advisable for when you should use your watch for this purpose.
- Nightly Disrupted Sleep – Sleep tracking devices could be utilized by light sleepers as well as those who experience interruptions from sleeping disorders, such as sleep apnea.
- Daytime Sleepiness – The condition above is the most common reason for lack of sleep. This does not enable one to reach REM sleep, thus making them tired in the daytime.
- Optimizing Lifestyle and Performance – Athletes, women, and students in need of mood, memory, and concentration optimization track their circadian rhythm more often.
Types of Watches
Telling time used to be the sole function of watches, especially in ancient days. Nowadays, however, watches have become ‘smart’ and multifunctional. You can now find a watch for every occasion. There are several types of watches out there, and they can classify according to function and fashion.
Watch Display
The display classifies watches according to what you see beyond the surface of the crystal of your watch. This includes:
- Analog
- Digital
- Hybrid
- Tactile
- Braille
- Touchscreen
Watch Style
Style pertains to the appearance of the watch and how it visually impacts users and onlookers.
- Casual
- Dress
- Fashion
- Luxury
Watch Movement
Watch movement refers to what drives the mechanism of the watch, which makes it move.
- Quartz
- Mechanical automatic
- Kinetic
- Chronometer
- Spring drive
Watch Power Source
As the name itself says, this is what charges the watch and make it function.
- Solar-power
- Quartz
- Smartwatch/lithium-ion
Watch Functionality
Functionality is what makes the modern and multifunctional watch different from the old-fashioned uni-functional watch.
- Chronograph
- GMT (Greenwich Mean Time)
- Calendar and moon phase
- Day and night
- Dive
- Pilot
- Field
- Tool smartwatch
Generally, it is a common notion that there are only seven types of watches, which are automatic, quartz, solar-powered, dress, chronograph, dive, and smartwatches. In fact, sometimes, it just boils down to only quartz and automatic.
What are Wearable Watches?
Wearables are electronic devices that function as accessories that can be worn fashionably or conveniently. Examples include smartwatches and fitness trackers.
- Smartwatches – These, nowadays, are the most popular wearables on the market. Smartwatches, such as the Apple smartwatch, are mostly worn by those who need to connect their data from their computers to their watches. This function provides a more convenient way of getting updates from work or social media.
- Fitness trackers – While phones have built-in apps that track over-all health, including heart rate, calorie count, BMI, and steps per day, fitness trackers are now available to monitor all of these with just one tap on your wrist. These wearables are also trendy pieces that can incorporate into everyday clothing.
- Sports watches – These wearables are popular among athletes whose lifestyle involves high-performance activities that warm up the body. These devices track their abilities and are usually waterproof, as well as having built-in GPS.
How to be a Responsible Wearable User
- Keep yourself informed – Reading a lot of articles and regular research on the potential risks of the technology you are using will undoubtedly benefit you, especially in the long run. Awareness and recognition of these dangers will be helpful to prevent exposure and risk dangers to your health.
- Different watch for different occasions – You are now knowledgeable of the types of watches to use for various events, so pick the safest ones to wear like analog pieces during your sleep. Analog watches are the most ideal since their sole function is none other than to tell time. Know that it is not advisable to wear a leather watch under the scorching heat. Better to avoid it during the summer, when silicone straps are a lot more comfortable as they are less responsive to the effects of temperature, saltwater, and sand.
- Know your brand – Reconsider every time you want to purchase wearables. Is the brand trustworthy? Does it go through quality control, and are MHRA-approved? Does it keep your data secured? Take note, though, devices like these should have passed FCC standards, but you have to be careful when using these devices because not all data rendered is validated.
- Use airplane mode – Turning off this tool solves problems with high-frequency emissions as it turns off Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and cellular. It also turns off all notifications so it will not disturb you, helping you sleep more soundly.
- Expose yourself less – If you are sensitive to EMF (electromagnetic force) radiation, do not use wearables as much as possible. Excessive exposure to EMF radiation poses risks to a lot of complications in health, including headaches, dizziness, nausea, cancer, mood swings, fatigue, memory loss, to name a few. In the same light, EHS or electro-hypersensitivity cause things such as wrist pain, small rash, and skin sensitivity. It is always better to be mindful of things you wear.
Conclusion – Is It Safe to Wear Your Watch to Bed?
You must have a better viewpoint on watches now. Along the way, you might have realized that wrist accessories like a watch could offer you more than just time-telling. Considering your lifestyle, you can always find one timepiece that suits your needs in the daytime and at night.
Sleep trackers might be best for sleeping, but you should keep in mind that these cannot replace seeing sleep specialists or doctors. If you want to achieve optimal sleep, do not wear a watch to bed at all. Explore your options as there are a lot of other devices that could track your sleeping behaviors. After all, if you do not have any reason to wear a watch, you can always opt to keep an alarm clock on your bedside table.