Do you want to sleep better tonight? Turn off the TV first!
Many people watch television right before they go to sleep. A recent sleep survey found that two-thirds of people in every country watch TV in the hour before bed.
“The bright light of TV stimulates the brain, which can affect the secretion of melatonin, a hormone necessary for quality sleep,” explains W. Christopher Winter, M.D., Men’s Health’s sleep advisor. And laptops and tablets used at the brightest setting are just as harmful.
As your brain revs up, its electrical activity increases and neurons start to race — the exact opposite of what should be happening before sleep. A second reason has to do with your body: The physical act of responding to a video game or even an email makes your body tense. As you get stressed, your body can go into a “fight or flight” response, and as a result, cortisol, a stress hormone produced by the adrenal gland, is released, creating a situation hardly conducive to sleep.
So, there is a tip for a healthy night time routine. Turn off the TV and spend that hour with a good book instead. Reading under a dim light won’t disrupt your brain’s melatonin production. Plus, studies have shown that overall memory improves if you learn right before falling asleep.
Sleep tight!
