Do Screens Before Bedtime Actually Improve Your Sleep? (vulture.com) 45
Having trouble falling asleep, a writer for Vulture pondered a study from February in the Journal of Sleep Research that "runs refreshingly counter to common sleep-and-screens wisdom."
For years, science and conventional wisdom have stated unequivocally that looking at a device — like a smartphone, tablet, laptop, or television — before bed is akin to lighting years of your natural life on fire, then letting the flames consume your children, your community, and the very concept of human progress....
Specifically interested in the use of "entertainment media" (streaming services, video games, podcasts) before bed, [the new February study's] researchers asked a group of 58 adults to keep a sleep diary and found that, if participants consumed entertainment media in the hour before bed, the habit was associated with an earlier bedtime as well as more sleep overall (though the benefits diminished if participants binged for longer than an hour or multitasked on their phones). Essentially, these researchers explored screen use before bed as a form of relaxation rather than a form of self-harm, which is exactly how I and probably 5 billion other people use it — as a way of distracting our minds from the onslaught of material reality just before we drift off to temporary oblivion.
Vulture's writer interviews Dr. Morgan Ellithorpe, one of the authors of the Journal of Sleep Research study and an assistant professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Delaware who specializes in media psychology. Dr. Ellithorpe is a proponent of intentional media use as a way to relieve stress, but she tells me that, in her research, she's found that the worst types of media to absorb before bed are those that have no "stopping point" — Instagram, TikTok, shows designed to be binge-watched. If you intend to binge a show, that might be fine: "Making a plan and sticking to it seems to matter," she says. We agree that humans are famously bad at that, and that's where the problems begin. The solution, Dr. Ellithorpe says, is figuring out why we're on our screens and if that reason is "meaningful." Are we turning to a screen in order to recover from an eventful day? Because we want something to talk about with our friends? Because we're seeking, as she puts it, a moment of "hedonic enjoyment"? The key is that you must be able to recognize when that need is fulfilled. Then "you're likely to have a good experience, and you won't need to force yourself to stop. But it takes practice."
Dr. Ellithorpe cites several studies for me to review — on gratification, mood-management theory, selective exposure, and self-determination theory — all of which, to various extents, grapple with the notion that human beings can make decisions to use media for purposeful things. "There's this push now to realize that people aren't a monolith, and media uses that seem bad for some people can actually be really good for other people." Although many researchers like Dr. Ellithorpe and her cohort are onboard with this push, she admits that "the movement has not filtered out to the public yet. So the public is still on this kick of 'Oh, media's bad.'"
And that's a huge part of the issue. "We sabotage ourselves when it comes to benefiting from media because we've been taught in our society to feel guilty for spending leisure time with media," Dr. Ellithorpe says. "The research in this area suggests that people who want to use media to recover from stress, if they then feel bad about doing so, they don't actually get the benefit from the media use."
But even Dr. Ellithorpe is prone to unintentional sleep moralizing, saying she is often "bad" and "on her phone two seconds before I turn off the light." She recommends watching a "low-challenge show" before bed and, like Dr. Kennedy, cites Stranger Things specifically as a dangerous pre-bed content choice because "you have to keep track of all the characters, remember what happened three seasons ago, and it's emotionally charged. It might be difficult afterward to come down from that and go to bed." In the end, she suggests watching whatever you want as long as it doesn't delay your bedtime.
Specifically interested in the use of "entertainment media" (streaming services, video games, podcasts) before bed, [the new February study's] researchers asked a group of 58 adults to keep a sleep diary and found that, if participants consumed entertainment media in the hour before bed, the habit was associated with an earlier bedtime as well as more sleep overall (though the benefits diminished if participants binged for longer than an hour or multitasked on their phones). Essentially, these researchers explored screen use before bed as a form of relaxation rather than a form of self-harm, which is exactly how I and probably 5 billion other people use it — as a way of distracting our minds from the onslaught of material reality just before we drift off to temporary oblivion.
Vulture's writer interviews Dr. Morgan Ellithorpe, one of the authors of the Journal of Sleep Research study and an assistant professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Delaware who specializes in media psychology. Dr. Ellithorpe is a proponent of intentional media use as a way to relieve stress, but she tells me that, in her research, she's found that the worst types of media to absorb before bed are those that have no "stopping point" — Instagram, TikTok, shows designed to be binge-watched. If you intend to binge a show, that might be fine: "Making a plan and sticking to it seems to matter," she says. We agree that humans are famously bad at that, and that's where the problems begin. The solution, Dr. Ellithorpe says, is figuring out why we're on our screens and if that reason is "meaningful." Are we turning to a screen in order to recover from an eventful day? Because we want something to talk about with our friends? Because we're seeking, as she puts it, a moment of "hedonic enjoyment"? The key is that you must be able to recognize when that need is fulfilled. Then "you're likely to have a good experience, and you won't need to force yourself to stop. But it takes practice."
Dr. Ellithorpe cites several studies for me to review — on gratification, mood-management theory, selective exposure, and self-determination theory — all of which, to various extents, grapple with the notion that human beings can make decisions to use media for purposeful things. "There's this push now to realize that people aren't a monolith, and media uses that seem bad for some people can actually be really good for other people." Although many researchers like Dr. Ellithorpe and her cohort are onboard with this push, she admits that "the movement has not filtered out to the public yet. So the public is still on this kick of 'Oh, media's bad.'"
And that's a huge part of the issue. "We sabotage ourselves when it comes to benefiting from media because we've been taught in our society to feel guilty for spending leisure time with media," Dr. Ellithorpe says. "The research in this area suggests that people who want to use media to recover from stress, if they then feel bad about doing so, they don't actually get the benefit from the media use."
But even Dr. Ellithorpe is prone to unintentional sleep moralizing, saying she is often "bad" and "on her phone two seconds before I turn off the light." She recommends watching a "low-challenge show" before bed and, like Dr. Kennedy, cites Stranger Things specifically as a dangerous pre-bed content choice because "you have to keep track of all the characters, remember what happened three seasons ago, and it's emotionally charged. It might be difficult afterward to come down from that and go to bed." In the end, she suggests watching whatever you want as long as it doesn't delay your bedtime.
Suddenly Lost Interest (Score:3)
> screen use before bed as a form of relaxation
> intentional media use as a way to relieve stress
> the worst types of media to absorb before bed are those that have no "stopping point"
> Because we're seeking, as she puts it, a moment of "hedonic enjoyment"?
> she suggests watching whatever you want
OK, we get it - the reason everything on the Internet was invented helps you fall asleep.
Re:Suddenly Lost Interest (Score:5, Funny)
It's like that musical from 20 years ago said:
The internet is really great... FOR SLEEP
I’ve got a fast connection so i don’t have to wait... FOR SLEEP
There's always some new sight... FOR SLEEP
I browse all day and night... FOR SLEEP
It's like I'm surfing at the speed of light... FOR SLEEP
The internet is for sleep
The internet is for sleep
Why do you think the net's so deep?
SLEEP SLEEP SLEEP!
Never had any trouble sleeping after "screen time" (Score:2)
Re: Never had any trouble sleeping after "screen t (Score:1)
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and it is easy enough for anyone who actually has any trouble with sleeping to test either option personally.
Sure, but you first need to know which one of your bedtime habits to target when attempting to improve your sleep. Statistics can help remove the hundreds of other behaviours which may be hiding the true reason for poor sleep. If you don't know that "screen time" is a major sleep disruptor for the whole population, you might spend months changing your night-time meals and adjusting your bed's orientation to magnetic north, etc, before even thinking it could be your phone's back-light.
And then there's blue light ... (Score:5, Informative)
This seems ignore the many other studies that seem to indicate exposure to light, and especially blue light, in the evening suppresses melatonin production and can disrupt your circadian rhythm -- interfering with sleep. (Google: blue light sleep [google.com])
From What is blue light? The effect blue light has on your sleep and more. [harvard.edu]:
Exposure to light suppresses the secretion of melatonin, a hormone that influences circadian rhythms. Even dim light can interfere with a person's circadian rhythm and melatonin secretion. A mere eight lux—a level of brightness exceeded by most table lamps and about twice that of a night light—has an effect ...
While light of any kind can suppress the secretion of melatonin, blue light at night does so more powerfully. Harvard researchers and their colleagues conducted an experiment comparing the effects of 6.5 hours of exposure to blue light to exposure to green light of comparable brightness. The blue light suppressed melatonin for about twice as long as the green light and shifted circadian rhythms by twice as much (3 hours vs. 1.5 hours).
This article, How Blue Light Affects Sleep [sleepfoundation.org] notes the above and that exposure to blue light -- during the day -- can help realign those disrupted circadian rhythms:
During the day, blue light can improve performance and attention, tuning our circadian rhythm and setting us up for a better night’s sleep after the sun sets. Properly-timed exposure to blue light can treat several sleep disorders. Circadian rhythm disorders occur when a person’s circadian rhythms aren’t in alignment with their environment. Light therapy, and blue light in particular7, can help realign the body’s circadian rhythms and improve sleep.
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This seems ignore the many other studies
Many articles that claim "studies have shown ..." contain no links to any studies and instead rely on conjecture.
The studies that have been done mostly report a correlation based on surveys rather than a controlled causal relationship. Obviously, people who lie awake at night are the same people who have trouble falling asleep. Some of those people will use electronic devices since they are awake anyway. That doesn't mean the devices are causing their insomnia.
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https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/... [pnas.org] is a randomized crossover study, although with a relatively small Snapple set. It had the participants read a book before sleep for about half the study period, and use a light-emitting electronic reader for the same number of nights. The e-readers had very strong association with less melatonin production, longer time to fall asleep, less REM sleep, and lower alertness / increased sleepiness the next morning.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.go... [nih.gov] is a survey of research resul
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This seems ignore the many other studies
Many articles that claim "studies have shown ..." contain no links to any studies and instead rely on conjecture.
The studies that have been done mostly report a correlation based on surveys rather than a controlled causal relationship. Obviously, people who lie awake at night are the same people who have trouble falling asleep. Some of those people will use electronic devices since they are awake anyway. That doesn't mean the devices are causing their insomnia.
Good point. I know for myself at least, I get the same hours of sleep as I did back in the dark ages, before this fad. I tried out the settings that turn the color temperature down at night, but that just messed up the video and image work that I do.
But even without precise work, screen temp shift doesn't do anything.
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Well you're working, requiring active mental engagement, not chilling out and watching something that's likely to help you wind down. There's good data on blue light affecting sleep patterns https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/emre... [cdc.gov] Using a red-shifting program means less blue light, as does setting a screen to only use greyscale.
I could be an outlier, of course, because my sleep habits have not changed since I was a teenager. I like my 5 hours of sleep a night, go to bed when I'm tired, and wake up refreshed, with no alarm needed.
The screen color temperature shifting effects I tried out just didn't make any noticeable difference when I used them.
maybe just screen color (Score:1)
it's amazing what a jolt to the system going from a "warm"/red nighttime shading to daylight does at night. I'm think blue light really does disrupt cycle.
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Just guessing here, but ... (Score:4, Insightful)
This study was done by "Lindsay Hahn, assistant professor of communication, College of Arts and Sciences" (from TFA) -- a degree that we can all acknowledge focuses on the mechanics of sleep -- who obviously still needed to prove to her Mom that screen time before bed was okay.
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Got anything other than an ad-hominem fallacy? I mean you're not wrong, but I always hoped Slashdot was a bit above attacking sources instead of discussing the finding or processes.
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Got anything other than an ad-hominem fallacy? I mean you're not wrong, but I always hoped Slashdot was a bit above attacking sources instead of discussing the finding or processes.
I posted [slashdot.org] before this one mentioning studies about the possible negative effects of light and specifically blue light on sleep mechanics.
This, hopefully funnier, one about her mom was inspired by tiffs between my niece and sister about screen time before bedtime. Still, studies like this about the content of before bedtime screen time and the actual biological effects of screens (blue/light) before bedtime are completely different. Not sure positive effects of the former outweigh negative effects of the
Media types (Score:2)
I thought the major problem was with the blue light/melatonin suppression*. Not necessarily the type or content of media being consumed. Yeah, watch something upsetting and you'll be awake, staring at the ceiling all night. Something less threatening and less mentally challenging and you fall asleep easily. I can't get halfway through Stephen Colbert's monologue without nodding off.
I used to watch the PBS station broadcast from a local technical college at bedtime (NOVA, etc.). On occasion, I'd forget to s
Intensity probably makes a difference (Score:2)
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There is good science to show that blue light suppresses melatonin. It's probably that evolved to wake our ancestors up in the morning -- and the higher the sun is in the sky, the more blue light there is. So what PPN says it takes bright blue light to suppress melatonin could explain the difference. Our night vision can see very low levels of blue light, and the melatonin suppression comes from non-visual cells in the retina which don't respond unless the blue light is brighter, as they would be in daylight. So maybe the melatonin effect needs brighter light than you get from a phone or TV.
Have they done a study on old school Black and white printing?
If this is a slam dunk - there should be a direct correlation - In a red lit darkroom, melatonin production should go through the roof. Since few use darkrooms any more, there is an experiment, not a study, not using the incredibly variable colors and light output of a computer screen, which bollixes up things. Completely random and uncontrolled variables right there.
Studies and stats are not science. Does anyone have the citations based on
Peck's Bad Boy (Score:3)
I've found the best way to clear my mind before sleep is read something completely unrelated to anything else that requires no subsequent thinking. Sometimes owner's manuals for some new simple gadget. But the best by far is the short stories in Peck's series of Bad Boy stories. He wrote them for his Newspaper in the 1880s to increase circulation. They are 3-4 pages, a 5 or 10 minute read, with delightful illustrations. The Bad Boy is a teenager always getting into trouble, like putting signs in the grocer's produce -- "Cabbage the cat has slept in, 5 cents". The bad boy's father is a drunk, his mother is a saint, the grocer is a cheat, the preacher is a hypocrite. The bad boy lines his father's had with limburger cheese. He wraps a card deck in his father's pocket handkerchief and soaks it with rum so his church speech goes haywire. My favorite is when he learns the grocer has rigged a darning needle beneath a hole in the counter where the bad boy sits, with a string to pull and stab the bad boy. The bad boy puts a piece of wood in his pocket and sits down. While the grocer is leaning down to see what is wrong, the bad boy gives up his seat to the preacher who has just strolled in, the preacher gets stabbed, and the bad boy leaves as they are rolling around the floor.
They are not politically correct by any means, but they were in a family newspaper in the 1880s.
There are probably thousands of similar books. Find any collection of 5 minute reads, none with cliffhanger ends. Nothing does better at separating daytime thinking from nighttime nothing.
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read something completely unrelated to anything else that requires no subsequent thinking
Oh man you're going to sleep like a baby now that Trump is back on Twitter.
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read something completely unrelated to anything else that requires no subsequent thinking
Oh man you're going to sleep like a baby now that Trump is back on Twitter.
I don't know. Trying to decipher word salad [imgur.com] makes your brain work harder.
Shut up right now (Score:2)
I'm sick of contradictory "experts" telling us what to do and trying to micromanage our lives.
Why don't they go do something useful like mop floors?
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They should just line up at the soup kitchen. They would do way less damage that way,
Reading This (Score:2)
This article kept me up for another 45 minutes. Had to drink a Diet Coke to keep my eyes open. Ready for bed now!
Screens before bedtime improve your sleep (Score:2)
Also, cigarettes make you healthier!
True story (Score:2)
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How relaxing.
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This comment is a dupe.
How relaxing.
wrong journal (Score:1)
Cat Videos and Night Mode (Score:2)
I've had trouble with sleep my whole life. Recently I've developed the habit of catching a few minutes of cat videos before turning off the light and it definitely helps.
Blue light isn't much of an issue as most devices nowadays have the night mode feature. Granted it doesn't filter out all the spectrum, but I haven't experienced much harmful effect especially with only a few brief minutes of exposure.
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hmmm (Score:1)
I never had trouble sleeping (Score:2)
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Screams..Oh...Screens (Score:1)
This Post Supports Betteridge's Law of Headlines (Score:2)
"Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no."
What is the activity? (Score:2)
They shouldn't lump everything you do on a electronic device as 'screen time'
I read on a Kindle Fire (white text on a black background) and I have no problem falling asleep
theres also listening to music (2002, David Arkenstone, Mike Oldfield, Medwyn Goodall, Paul Speer, Enya, Clannad etc)
This is contrary to "consensus' therefore wrong (Score:2)
As with all topics if consensus is not what you believe you're wrong. Right?
At least that seems to be the dominant paradigm these days so why does anyone seem open to this? Oh right, no big profits to be made?
"Consensus is _always_ a political construct." ... so keep an open mind ... always.