Is watching media before bedtime bad for your sleep?
Ahmedabad: It’s not uncommon to hear people complain about insomnia, especially in the aftermath of the COVID-19 outbreak. Because there was no other option, even the early birds were staying up late into the night, binge-watching films or web series, or scrolling through social media. But how much of an influence does this have on our bodies? This has recently been the subject of a new investigation.
The findings appeared in the journal ‘Journal of Sleep Research.’
The study looked into how media use before bed could affect sleep, such as viewing movies, television, or YouTube videos; browsing the Internet, or listening to music.
In the study, 58 participants kept a diary in which they documented information about how much time they spent with media before going to bed, where they used it, and whether they multitasked.
Electroencephalography (EEG) examinations, which use small metal discs affixed to the scalp to detect electrical activity in the brain, recorded data like bedtime, total sleep time, and sleep quality.
The usage of media in the hour before bedtime was linked to a later bedtime. Before-bed use was similarly linked to higher overall sleep time when it did not involve multitasking and was done in bed.
Longer media usage was linked to later bedtimes and shorter total sleep time. Before bed, media consumption had little effect on sleep quality.
“If you’re going to use media before bed, like watching TV or listening to music, before bed, keep it a short, focused session and you are unlikely to experience any negative outcomes in your sleep that night,” said lead author Morgan Ellithorpe, Ph.D., of the University of Delaware. (ANI)
(Sunidhi Bhatt)
