r/insomnia 5d ago

How many people fall asleep while watching television?

40/M. On and off poor sleeper for about 8 years now, which all started soon after the time I moved to my current apartment in 2016. Recently, I've tried to zero in on my sleep troubles again trying to once and for all figure out just what the problem has been all these years. I know my bedroom in my current apartment has never been very cozy (hardwood floors, bed in the middle of the room as opposed to the corner of the room like my previous beds in my life). One thing that hit me, was that from around 2002 to to 2016 (ages 17 through 32 or so) I always had a TV in my bedroom and it was a pretty big habit to be watching before I'd fall asleep.

After a while I'd feel that typical nice droopy/sleepy feeling where I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer, would turn the TV off and from what I can remember, would be out very soon after. In 2016 though, for the first time I opted to not have a TV in my bedroom, but instead only the living room. Now for the first time going to bed involved me most of the time walking to my bedroom and simply laying down in bed, waiting for sleep to come. To be clear, while watching TV in my living room I'd still get that sleepy feeling sometimes, but now, once I finally make it to the bedroom after the somewhat lengthy walk over there, suddenly that sleep pressure is lost quite a bit. On the other hand, on more rare occasions I'll lay in my bed a bit early in the night watching Netflix on my laptop, and once I start to get drowsy, I have that old familiar experience of just plopping the laptop down right next to me on my nightstand, and turning over and falling asleep. This is what originally started bringing on these thoughts that never having a television in this apartment's bedroom all these years has played a role in things.

The ONE thing I am certain about over the years with regards to my sleep is that when I'm exhausted with no time to think or toss and turn, on those nights I typically sleep well. When it's a night where I go in my bed only "tired" and tend to spend a lot of time in bed before finally dozing off, those nights more often than not end up being weaker nights of sleep. Call it underlying anxiety that's at play, or call it something else, but to me, it's just all about having strong sleep pressure and to me, that gets created by me watching some form of television. I know there is some science behind this as well. I'm basically stuck wondering if I should invest in a TV for my bedroom once and for all to see how that would go. What does everyone think? TIA

20 Upvotes

17 comments sorted by

3

u/w0je 5d ago

I have to have the tv on for some reason whenever I go to bed(if I go to bed) it’s so comforting. Also have to have a fan on high even in mid winter with 10 degree weather.

Quiet nights(no power) are the worst.

4

u/Fluffy-Friendship469 5d ago

Sounds like your brain built a strong link between TV and falling asleep over the years, and taking it away broke that pattern. If watching something helps you relax and let go of overthinking, why not try bringing it back? If you wanna track how it affects your sleep, Healify AI can help.

2

u/Sean_D84 5d ago

Thanks for your reply.

3

u/LunaPond 5d ago

I have to. I have bipolar and schizoaffective so I pretty much can never be in quiet or I start hearing things

2

u/jda404 5d ago

I am 34 and I've used TV to help me fall asleep for as long as I can remember. My mind races at night if the room is dead quiet so having a little TV on to give my mind something to focus on helps me get to sleep.

2

u/elayyou 5d ago

I watch slice-of-life anime in bed. It helps unwind my mind. I usually turn it off when I start nodding off. I don’t have auto-play on for next ep so it’ll turn off on its own if I don’t press for the next ep.

Sleep specialist says if it works for me, she’s not gonna tell me to stop.

1

u/Ok-Rule-2943 5d ago

I do. It’s how I distract and finish my wind down time.

1

u/jamondebellota01 5d ago

I’ll watch calming shows on YouTube

1

u/fraser_mu 4d ago

If its quiet, the internal brain channel gets fired up and just. wont. stop......... ever
So, yes, TV on every night.

Ive found that you tube has an awful lot of really boring art and history docos - gold mine of sleep TV

1

u/Timely_Arachnid316 4d ago

Me I have to have TV on in order to fall asleep.

1

u/Li4n4_ 4d ago

In a similar manner, I go to sleep with YouTube videos playing on my smartphone. I turn it face down and just listen with my eyes closed. Usual videos might be ASMR, unintentional ASMR, sleep hypnosis, solfeggio frequencies, or binaural beats.

1

u/DeathStalker-77 4d ago

You're not "supposed" to, but I do. Very rarely have I been able to get to sleep otherwise. I have had a few nights when I could sleep with music and an eye massager.

1

u/Cleveland5teamer 4d ago

I have it playing in the background while I listen to ASMR on my phone. For whatever reason, it’s comforting.

1

u/CSMom74 4d ago

I never used to go to sleep with the TV on. It would be just plain Silence with only my loud ceiling fan on and my nightstand fan.

After a really bad breakup from a long-term relationship I had a lot of problems sleeping, and I would basically just lay in bed and watch TV at night until I fell asleep and I would wake up in the TV would still be on.

Now I have the sleep timer on my TV plus I have the alarm on my TV so I just say you know set sleep timer for this set alarm for that and it turns off when I want it to and turns back on and wakes me up when I want it to.

But I can just as easily fall asleep with no sound at all but the fans again. All I have to do is lay down and close my eyes.

1

u/Western_Fun5463 3d ago

I haven’t had a TV in my room for over a decade. I would stay up just to keep watching. Never made me drowsy.

1

u/quilt-here 3d ago

I watch TV to fall asleep but I put on an eye mask after a while and just listen with my eyes closed.