In theory, it’s a nice idea. But in practice, it’s not so easy. According to a 2022 poll by the National Sleep Foundation, more than half of Americans surveyed said they use screens in the hour before sleep.
“The reality is we are all attached to our screens at this point,” says Dr. Fariha Abbasi-Feinberg, a sleep specialist and board member of the AASM. So instead of banning technology altogether, she tries to help her patients manage their nightly tech habits.
Becky Harlan/NPR
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“In an ideal world, yes, you would have a wind-down routine that does not include screens. But I try to meet patients where they are,” she says. For example, if they can’t put the iPad away 30 minutes before the lights go out, she’ll settle for 15 minutes.
In our final Sleep Week newsletter, learn how to create better boundaries with your electronic devices at bedtime.
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.
Strategy 1: Watch out for ‘sleep displacement’
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.
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.”
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.
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
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.
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.
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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THIS WEEK IN GOOD NEWS
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Achieving a major reforestation milestone, the Democratic Republic of Congo has planted 90% of its 1 billion trees goal
The Democratic Republic of Congo loses 500,000 hectares (1.2 million acres) of forest cover every year due to shifting cultivation, mining, and illegal and informal logging.
To address this widespread deforestation, a Congolese government program aspired to plant 1 billion trees between 2019 and 2023, aiming to strengthen climate resilience, alleviate poverty, and protect biodiversity.
While they didn't meet their goal, they reached a remarkable 90% of their target — and the organization behind the reforestation effort plans to continue planting more trees even after the government program comes to an end.
In 'the greatest recovery of a cat species ever achieved,' the rarest wild cat in the world is now no longer endangered
The Iberian lynx is one of the rarest cat species in the world, and after 20 years of hard-won conservation efforts, it's officially off the endangered species list.
In 2002, the species was brought to the brink of extinction, with only 94 Iberian lynxes remaining in Spain and disappearing entirely from Portugal, where it was declared locally extinct.
The main cause of the Iberian lynx's decline was its disappearing food source, which was affected by agricultural production and disease, as well as by poaching and highway construction.
Why is this good news? The Iberian lynx's recovery is proof of all the good that conservation efforts can do if we invest in them long-term. Conservationists focused on projects over the course of two decades and thanks to those efforts, the species' population increased twenty-fold — so much that it was removed from the endangered species list entirely.
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In a dramatic reinvention, the Buenos Aires zoo went from showing animals for profit to protecting them
Before it closed its doors as a zoo in 2016, the Buenos Aires Ecopark prioritized making money over caring for its animals — keeping them in enclosures that hadn't changed much since they were built in the late 1800s.
As public opinion shifted against showing animals purely for entertainment, the zoo closed its doors and began a reinvention process over the next seven years.
It involved relocating more than 1,000 animals to sanctuaries around the world and becoming a nationally important center for conservation. It's now home to a state-of-the-art animal hospital that takes animals from all over the country and the largest biobank in South America.
What's the nuance?The ethical arguments surrounding zoos are valid. At the same time, when operated with the animals as a key priority, they can play a critical role in endangered species conservation, animal rehabilitation, and in helping humans tap into empathy and care for animals and species from all over the world.
One of the first in the world to ban certain single-use plastics, a small Pacific island nation has now dramatically reduced pollution
While residents of the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu tried their best to collect and properly dispose of plastic littering its surrounding waters, the country's government took action to stop pollution at the source.
In 2018, Vanuatu became one of the first in the world to outlaw the sale and distribution of certain single-use plastics, including a world-first ban on plastic straws.
Why is this good news? Small island nations face unique challenges when it comes to waste since they're often dependent on plastic-intensive imports, are at the mercy of ocean currents carrying debris, and don't have adequate recycling or waste management on the small strips of land. So this is an especially notable achievement — and one that was led by the people of Vanuatu.
In a landmark ruling, a UK judge said that proposed new fossil fuel projects must account for future impacts
The UK's supreme court just ruled that the impact of burning coal, oil, and gas on the climate must be considered when deciding whether or not to approve new fossil fuel projects.
The decision sets an important precedent for taking into account the "inevitable" future greenhouse gas emissions associated with new fossil fuel extraction — and the impact of those emissions on the climate crisis.
Advocates are celebrating the ruling, calling it a "huge win in the fight for a livable climate." The ruling is also expected to impact other active lawsuits against fossil fuel extraction projects.
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