September 1, 2015

A sleep researcher "told us that if you want to sleep well, you should avoid all screens for half an hour before going to bed. And yet she doesn’t."

"But she promised... [f]or one week, she would not look at a single screen – no TV, no computer, no smartphone – between nine at night and seven in the morning."
HALE: The real challenge is try it for a week and see if you feel better, if you’re sleeping more, if you’re going to bed earlier, and see how you feel.
DUBNER: So how did it go?

HALE: It went great. I was shocked at how many times I wanted to check my phone, turn on the TV, go to the computer, any number of screens as they were all yelling out to me, but I held back and I slept so much better I can hardly believe it.
From the earlier episode:

DUBNER: So you say you... do use some screens. Do you use screens for reading, for watching TV? What do you do?...

HALE: I read.

DUBNER: You read like books? Or you read emails and Instagram and Facebook?

HALE: Yeah. Something like that. Emails. I would respond to email or I read posts on Facebook, I read articles. Nothing heavy. It’s light, light…

DUBNER: But I would think- it’s funny because when you say, “nothing heavy,” because I hear people say that all the time, like, “I just look at that kind of stuff,” And I would argue personally, for me at least, and this is just an n of one, that that would be way more disruptive or distracting to sleep than reading an actual book. Because when I read a book, I’m reading it kind of for pleasure and also to learn, right, and I’m focused. And it doesn’t distract me in a way that seeing like, “Oh that’s what that person is up to and I wonder what that means for me and my family and my life. And oh my goodness, so and so went to Antarctica, I wonder if they’re going to bring me back some frozen penguin poo as a gift? Wouldn’t that be great.” You know? And so, when you say that it’s just light stuff, see to me- and again, to my untrained brain, I would think that’s the worst thing you could possibly do.

8 comments:

Sam L. said...

She goes to bed at 7AM?

Bob R said...

"Sleep researcher" heavily invested in thesis agrees to confirm bias for one week. Success! Welcome to economics.

Ann Althouse said...

"She goes to bed at 7AM?"

She doesn't want to get up until then. She had been looking at screens before 7 a.m. when she got up to nurse her baby. Now, she goes back to sleep (which seems to have more to do with eliminating the curiosity about what was on line than all that crap about blue light).

tim in vermont said...

Whatever the nitpicking, this works.

Birches said...

Ugh, who would want to turn on a phone at 5:30 while nursing? I considered myself pretty addicted to reading on the computer when I was nursing, because it's the easiest thing to do. But I'd only turn it on after 7:30 or 8AM. I don't think I really ever woke up for my early morning--4-6AM-- feedings. She's right, those are the power hours; that's where I got my best sleep.

rhhardin said...

As a kid I tuned the shortwave radio to NSS sending 5-digit code groups to ships at sea, fell asleep fast, and work up with an improved morse code speed.

Will Cate said...

I actually do this. I stare at my screens all day, and usually into the evening as well. But before bed I hit the couch, put the headphones on and listen to about 45 min. of music. Then I sleep like a baby.

Kirby Olson said...

I should listen to Will Cate. I find it harder and harder to sleep through the night. Tylenol PM works, but then I wake up depressed like I'm underneath the ocean.