You snooze you lose?
Several studies have found that cortisol (the stress hormone) levels decrease and feelings of calmness increase when we watch something we like on TV.
Falling asleep while watching a concert on TV might actually help sleep quality. This is particularly true for classical music.
Sources: (Health Digest) (Health) (Sleep.com) (Healthline) (Sleep Foundation) (Mayo Clinic) (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
See also: The best sounds to help you fall asleep
A 2022 systematic review looked at how increased screen time causes a decline of physical and psychological health. It found that screen time (including TVs and smartphones) affects “the quality of sleep, anxiety causes, feelings of depression, and issues related to self-esteem, as well as physical effects in individuals.”
With the negatives covered, let's now discuss the advantages. Indeed, sleeping with the TV on may have some benefits for some people. One of them is the ability to unwind and reduce stress levels by watching a show or movie that we enjoy.
A 2017 study found that exposure to white noise “significantly reduced sleep onset latency by 38% compared to normal environmental noise.”
This is especially true for shows and movies we’re familiar with. Opt for a light-hearted show or comedy as opposed to live news and action movies. Lower stress levels will have a positive impact on sleep and life in general.
Your TV set is a source of white noise. This type of ambient noise may help you fall asleep faster.
Bing-watching TV in general can have an impact on levels of stress and increase feelings of anxiety, depression, and lead to insomnia, concluded a 2021 study published in Psychology Research and Behavior Management.
A more recent study, from 2023, also showed that those who slept with light at night were 40% more likely to become obese when compared to those who slept without any light. This data, however, applied to older participants.
Weight gain happens for a number of reasons, including how the disruption of the circadian rhythm affects ones’ metabolism.
A 2010 study done on hamsters found that those exposed to dim light during sleep began to show changes in the hippocampus, which translated to symptoms of depression. A study done previously on mice reached the same conclusions. But do these results translate to humans?
Sleeping with the TV on can put you at a higher risk for hypertension. The light and sound is more likely to disrupt sleep and alter hormone production, which consequently may lead to hypertension. In summary, sleeping less may increase blood pressure.
In fact, watching TV on its own, regardless of what time of the day, has been linked to high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels.
The study, which included 43,000 women aged 35–74, found that those who slept with a TV (or light) on were 17% more likely to have gained around 11 pounds (approximately 5 kg) or more during the study.
A 2019 study found that the risk of obesity was higher for women who slept with some form of artificial light, including a TV.
REM sleep has a number of restorative functions, including processing emotions and consolidating memories. This is the sleep phase where we experience vivid dreams. Deprivation of REM sleep can affect how we regulate emotions and how our memories work.
Watching TV will stimulate your brain. The increased brain activity will make it harder for you to relax. Numerous studies have shown how using electronic devices before bedtime can negatively affect how long it takes to fall asleep, as well as sleep duration and quality.
Watching TV just before falling asleep will affect how long it takes for us to doze off, but sleeping with the TV on will also prevent us from having a deeper, restful, and restorative sleep.
Your brain will continue to be stimulated when you fall asleep with the TV on. Both the images you watch before falling asleep and the sounds you listen to while you’re asleep affect your sleep.
Watching TV late at night may “lengthen sleep onset and reduce rapid eye movement (REM) sleep.”
Most adults need at least seven hours of sleep, so if you watch TV a little bit longer at night, you will increase the debt. This is not good news for your overall health.
The way blue light does this is by suppressing the production of melatonin, which is the hormone that signals your body that it’s time to hit the sack.
A high sleep debt has been linked to a number of health issues, including hypertension, heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. Sleep debt has also been linked to an increase in risk of car accidents and falls (particularly in older adults).
A 2022 systematic review found that exposure to blue light might have “negative effects such as the decrease in sleep quality and sleep duration.”
Sleep debt is determined by calculating the difference between how much sleep you need and how much sleep you actually get each night.
TV sets emit blue light. This type of light is known to disrupt your circadian rhythm (sleep-wake cycle).
A 2016 study published in the journal Dreaming found that the content we watch also influences our dreams. E.g. those who view violent content are more likely to have dreams containing violence.
A large percentage of people have a television set at home, and many of us have one in our bedrooms. It's not uncommon for people to fall asleep while watching TV, but while many of us watching it elsewhere in the home take it as a sign to go to bed, what happens when we're in the bedroom, already in bed? It's very likely that we'll sleep through it.
But sleeping with the TV on can indeed have an impact on our sleep quantity, quality, and our overall health. It does, however, have some potential benefits, too. Click on and get to know both sides of the argument.
How sleeping with the TV on impacts your body
The pros and cons
HEALTH Rest
A large percentage of people have a television set at home, and many of us have one in our bedrooms. It's not uncommon for people to fall asleep while watching TV, but while many of us watching it elsewhere in the home take it as a sign to go to bed, what happens when we're in the bedroom, already in bed? It's very likely that we'll sleep through it.
But sleeping with the TV on can indeed have an impact on our sleep quantity, quality, and our overall health. It does, however, have some potential benefits, too. Click on and get to know both sides of the argument.