| | A quick note: These newsletters can help you optimize your sleep, but if you think you have an underlying sleep disorder like insomnia or sleep apnea, talk to your primary care provider about referring you to a sleep specialist. |
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| Strategy 1: Watch out for ‘sleep displacement’ |
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If you have a tendency to push off sleep in favor of watching TV or scrolling Instagram, researchers have a term for this: “sleep displacement.”
It’s a widespread problem. A 2023 survey from the AASM found that 91% of participants reported losing sleep because they stayed up past their bedtime on screens.
Part of the reason is that phones are designed to be habit-forming. “These things aren't there to relax you. They're there to keep your attention,” says Michael Grandner, a psychologist and sleep researcher at the University of Arizona. |
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Try this tonight: Think about the motivation behind your screen use. If you feel like you’re using technology to distract yourself (which may push off your bedtime), try these small adjustments. - Make your screens less disruptive. When Abbasi-Feinberg works with patients who say they need the TV on to fall asleep, she tells them to lower the volume or put an eye mask on when they start to feel sleepy so the flickering light doesn’t disrupt their sleep.
- Keep your phone out of arm’s reach at night. Putting your phone in another room can minimize distractions. If you're worried about not being available to loved ones in the case of an emergency, keep your phone nearby, but limit your phone notifications at night, says sleep researcher Jeanne Duffy. “If it’s a real emergency, someone will call you. They won’t text you.”
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Strategy 2: Choose content that relaxes you |
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In our first newsletter, we explained why stressful activities before bed (like having an upsetting conversation) winds you up, not down, making it hard to fall asleep.
That goes for the content you consume on your devices. If you have a choice between watching reruns of Sex and the City or scrolling through disturbing videos on TikTok, choose the content that calms you, says Allison Harvey, a professor and clinical psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley.
That being said, stimulating programs don’t always hinder sleep. A study published in 2023 found that watching suspenseful TV shows with cliffhanger endings had little effect on sleep quality. In fact, participants fell asleep faster after watching suspenseful TV than a documentary. So, take into account your own emotional response to the content you consume.
Consider passive versus active screen time too. If you’re doing something active on your phone before bed, say, writing a lengthy Reddit response, you’re probably more focused on writing than trying to fall asleep. But if you’re watching surf videos on YouTube and zoning out, sleep might be more possible. If you’re “lying still and receiving information, you are allowing sleep to come to you,” says Michael Gradisar, a sleep researcher based in Australia. |
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Try this tonight: If you’re going to use a screen before bed, ask yourself whether the activity is keeping you engaged (and therefore alert). “If an alarm went off right now and said, ‘put it down,’ could you? If the answer is ‘sure,’ then it's probably not mentally engaging enough to be interfering with sleep,” says Grandner. If your response is “no,” switch to a more relaxing activity on your device. |
Strategy 3: Minimize your exposure to light from your device |
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You may have heard that specifically blue light from electronic devices can impact our sleep. And so some people think blue light-blocking glasses or special filters on their devices “will take care of the problem,” says Duffy, who has researched the impact of technology on sleep.
“But just getting rid of the blue wavelengths still won't solve the problem, because the rest of the light is still impacting your biological clock.” Remember, light suppresses your body’s release of melatonin, a hormone that helps you get ready for sleep.
One study published in 2014 shows that light from our devices can affect nighttime rest. The research found that on average, it took participants 10 minutes longer to fall asleep when reading on an electronic device than a physical book. |
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Try this tonight: If you’re having a hard time falling asleep, minimize your exposure to the light from your devices at night. - Keep a distance from the screen. “If you're watching TV from the other side of the room, you're actually not getting a whole lot of light exposure at the level of your eye. But if you're watching it right in front of your face on an iPad, a phone or a laptop, then you're getting way more light,” says Duffy. So tonight, maybe watch TV in the living room instead of scrolling TikTok an inch from your eyeball.
- Stay away from light in the middle of the night. Your circadian clock is most sensitive to light at night. So the next time you’re up at 3 a.m., avoid checking your phone or electronic device. The bright light from the screen can make you feel more alert.
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Although this newsletter series has come to a close, we hope it has inspired you to incorporate something new into your sleep routine. The experts we spoke with repeatedly brought up the benefit (and fun) of trying little experiments on your sleep.
My personal experiment over the last week has been getting outside right when I wake up. The morning sunshine may help me feel more alert during the day -- and hopefully sleepier at night too.
Happy experimenting and sleep well,
--Clare Marie
P.S. What did you think of this newsletter series? Did you try any of the tips? Email us at lifekit@npr.org -- we’d love to hear from you. |
This newsletter series was edited by Malaka Gharib, Meghan Keane and Carmel Wroth and fact-checked by Susie Cummings. Beck Harlan is the visual editor. Special thanks to Emily Barocas, Joy Yoo, Arielle Retting, Kelley Holden, Kristin Hume and Raquel Scoggin. |
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