Turn off the TV and do something more interesting instead (and then fall asleep)

10 June 2009

A new study from the University of Philadelphia says that watching TV before bed causes people to have sleep that does not leave them refreshed.

The study, conducted between 2003 and 2006 and including 21,475 adults, found that the most popular pre bedtime activity was watching TV, with nearly 50% of the respondents partaking in it. This meant that TV was the most popular cue for the start of the sleep period, rather than hours past sunset, or feeling tired. The respondents also reported that their bedtime was worked around the TV schedule, leaving them to have less sleep than required.

The researchers also felt that watching TV has replaced more vigorous leisure time activities such as exercise, leading to a more sedentary lifestyle and more disturbed sleep patterns.

Our feeling on it is that common sense dictates that you shouldn’t be getting less sleep than you require because you are missing things on TV. That is why Sky plus was invented! However watching TV can be part of the wind down process before sleep(for example if we have been working late, we will not jump straight into bed, we will watch half and hour of TV, Family Guy normally does the trick, and we will forget about the worries of the day and fall straight to sleep when we do go to bed), and we are of the opinion that the people suffering from poor sleep in this instance should give more importance to their snoozing time and switch off the TV earlier.

Sweet Dreams….