If you have insomnia, the usual recommendation is not to watch TV in bed. There are at least five reasons for this advice.
Conditioning: The modern bedroom is a media room, outfitted with laptops, phones, tablets, e-readers, TVs and smart speakers. These are in addition to our books, work papers, pets, kids, takeout containers, lotions, puzzles and piles of unfolded laundry.
But one of the best supported components of insomnia treatment, stimulus control therapy (SCT), proscribes all activity in bed except for sleep and sex. When we reserve the bed for sleep, bed is hypothesised to become a strong conditioned cue – a green light – for falling asleep.
Screens can be disruptive to sleep.Credit: iStock
SCT is also thought to encourage the formation of helpful associations between the bed and peaceful drowsiness while breaking harmful associations between the bed and anxious wakefulness.
Content: There is no scientific consensus yet on the effect of screen content on adults’ sleep, but patients regularly tell me that certain programs stimulate emotions and thinking that interfere with their sleep. Shows can also be compelling enough to keep my patients watching beyond when they would otherwise be asleep.
Biological rhythm: Late-night light conveys a false sunlight signal to the biological clock and suppresses the darkness hormone melatonin, effectively shifting our internal time zone westward.
Environmental intrusion: Volume fluctuations and flashing lights from the TV can be jarring when we’re awake and can wake us up if we’ve fallen asleep. Light is also a stimulant. It doesn’t take much sound to disrupt sleep.
Risk of falling asleep prematurely: Many of my exhausted patients collapse into bed shortly after work to watch TV. The TV lulls them to sleep early and then they can’t sustain sleep through the night because sleep drive, like any appetite, has its limits. Their sleep fragments, and they may lie awake for long periods in the middle of the night or wake too early.
Now let’s look at the other side of the coin. There are some good arguments in favour of watching TV in bed.
