Gary’s family internet curfew
He bans all iPads and phones for his children after 8pm to cut stress
GARY Barlow has imposed an 8pm ‘ blue light curfew’ on all gadgets in his household.
The Take That star was inspired to give up technology after going on a week-long digital detox in Portugal, and emerging from it healthier, happier and lighter than ever before.
After returning to England for a new TV series, the 45-year-old singer has kept up the practice – and is encouraging his wife, Dawn, and three children to follow suit.
He told the Mail: ‘Never mind food, we need detoxing from bloody technology.
‘It’s in everyone’s lives and I don’t think you realise what a problem it is until you stop it. It’s almost like having a permanent nervous twitch: Quick, check Twitter! Quick, check the news! Quick, check Google! It’s crazy. Wellbeing is a completely under-rated subject and I think in this stressful age, we never really take a real holiday or check out from the real world.
‘I look at my teenagers going through exams and we are all under a lot of stress, even youngsters, but we don’t acknowledge it.
‘Now I regularly turn my phone off and in our household now we try not to put on the wi-fi, watch a screen or have any blue light after 8 o’clock at night – and I realise the world continues to turn and nobody dies if I don’t answer an email immediately.’ After initially signing up to Jason Vale’s juicing retreat in rural Portugal to detox his body, the star believes it was his mind which received the biggest boost.
During his seven-night stay, he drank nothing but vegetable and fruit juices and smoothies, in addition to doing up to four hours of exercise daily.
Barlow, whose new BBC1 primetime Saturday night show Let It Shine starts in January, also believes his 6lb weight loss was, in part, down to a reduction in the stress hormone cortisol – a result of his digital curfew.
His comments come after Harvard research showed the damaging effects of artificial light on sleep.
Study participants who were exposed to 6.5 hours of blue light showed reduced levels of the sleep hormone melatonin, and slept on average 90 minutes less than those who were exposed to more natural light. In addition, the closer to bedtime the exposure to computer screens and tablets, the worse the quality of sleep.
Another report has revealed how pre- school children are glued to their screens for an average of four hours a day.
Not surprisingly, then, Barlow tries to regulate his children, Daniel, 16, Emily, 14, and Daisy, seven, from using tablets late at night. He added: ‘There are people selling all these moisturisers and miracle creams and anti-ageing things, but things like sleep are free, and that will do all of those things for you; keep you looking and feeling youthful.
‘Even if it is just one hour every day, go to yoga, or read a book. It sounds so easy but people don’t, and I do not believe there’s anyone who cannot spare 45 minutes to an hour for themselves, to turn around and say “this hour is for me”.’