Mar 21

Mar 21 Screens off for better sleep

Do you fall asleep with the television on? I know that some folks do, and they are used to its background noise. But there are a few key reasons not to do it when it comes to sleep.

First off, we all sleep in cycles. Sometimes we are deeply asleep, and sometimes we come up to (or very close to) the surface. The sound from the television can prompt you to wake up, or influence your dreams. Especially if the shows include tense music, violence, or news reports, you might want to turn them off so you have a better chance at uninterrupted sleep. Add white noise or soothing music into the room using a speaker that doesn’t include a screen, if at all possible.

The second reason to turn televisions off, not just at bedtime but up to two hours ahead of bedtime, is that these days, most of them emit blue light, which can suppress your body’s production of melatonin, making it harder for your to fall asleep. And even if they don’t emit blue light, they emit light, and that messes with your ability to get sound sleep, because you “see” the light through your closed eyelids. Sleep experts recommend you keeping the room as dark as possible for the best sleep, including wearing an eye mask if you are comfortable with one. (I’m not, fwiw.)

The (possibly) bad news? It’s not just televisions.

Computer screens, iPads, e-readers, and smart phones also emit blue light, which literally signals your brain and body to wake up. If your goal is sleep, use night shift, a blue-light screen, or simply turn your tech off at least one hour before you intend to go to bed. Putting your cellphone into a closet or leaving it out of the bedroom has been shown to help people sleep as well.

As an aside, most sleep experts will advise you to keep your bedroom a place for two purposes only: sleep and sex. That way, being in the bedroom is a mental cue that it’s about to be ON 😉 or you are about to nod OFF 😴. From a feng shui perspective, which looks at energy, it keeps too much “yang” or active energy out of your bedroom. No need to have the leftover energy from a fight scene or competition on TV, work stress from your computer, and so forth, hanging about in the room.