Effects of Watching TV before Bed on Sleep Quality Matthew Spector Palomar College Abstract There is plenty of research on whether or not watching television has an effect on the effectiveness of sleep. However, there is contradicting research, so the results are inconclusive. In order to study the effects of TV on sleep, I watched TV for half an hour before bed for a week straight, and recorded how tired I felt in the morning. I then recorded how I felt in the morning for a week without watching TV before bed. The results seemingly showed that I was less tired on average on the mornings that I didn’t watch TV.
Still, there are many factors that may have altered how well I slept besides just the television. Therefore, these results are likely not conclusive. Introduction It doesn’t come as a surprise that the amount of televisions in bedrooms is raising. Television is the most widespread communication system of modern society (Nag, 2012).
It’s not uncommon these days to have a television in your bedroom. However, studies show that watching TV before bed can have a negative impact on your sleep (Nag, 2012).
It has also been found that televisions result in later bedtimes.
The results support the idea that sleeping patterns are influenced by television (Custers, 2012).
Contradictorily, conflicting research also shows that reducing media use might NOT be important for sleep hygiene advice to adults (Louzada, 2004).
This self observation is an attempt to find out if watching TV has an effect on sleep. Methods The purpose of this study is to see if watching TV for a half an hour before bed has an impact on quality of sleep. For the first week, I will record how tired I feel when waking up without watching TV before bed.
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For the second week, I will watch TV for half an hour before bed, and then record how tired I feel when waking up. It is hypothesized that watching TV before bed will have a negative impact on the quality of my sleep, and thus cause me to feel more tired in the morning. The independent variable in the study is watching TV before bed; the dependent variable that is being studied is tiredness in the morning. During the first week, I will watch TV in my bed for half an hour before turning it off and going to sleep.
Then in the morning, I will rate how tired I feel on a scale of 1-5; 1 being not tired at all and 5 being very tired. During the second week, I won’t watch TV for at least 2 hours before going to sleep. Then in the morning I will use the same scale to rate how tired I feel. Results I started the experiment on Sunday night, so Monday morning was my first rating. After watching TV for 30 minutes before bed on Sunday, my rating on Monday was a 4. I felt fairly tired. On Tuesday through Sunday my ratings were: 4, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 2, respectively.
This data puts my average rating for the first week at 3. 43. This data is what was expected, as it appears that I was tired more often than not. On the second week, the results differed slightly, but the result wasn’t nearly what was expected. On Monday morning of the second week, my rating was again a 4. On Tuesday through Sunday my ratings were: 3, 4, 4, 2, 2, and 3 respectively. These results put the average rating for the second week at 3. 14. While the drop in average rating is noticeable, it is not as drastic as expected. Discussion
The results shown seem to prove the initial hypothesis. It seems through this evidence that my average quality of sleep was better when I hadn’t watched TV before bed. However, these findings aren’t necessarily true. Although the experiment was conducted as intended, there were several problems that could have had an effect on the result of the data. For one, the data did not account for how long I slept on each night. While I tried to keep the amount of sleep consistent for each night, it wasn’t possible to receive the exact same amount of sleep.
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It’s obvious that the varying amount of sleep I had will have an impact on how tired I felt in the morning. Another possible issue was my stress level. Stress can play a role in how well someone sleeps. I wasn’t taking into account my stress level, but it’s possible that I was more stressed on certain days. In order to get a more accurate representation on how watching TV before bed effects sleep, an experiment like this would have to likely last several weeks longer. It would also have to take place in a more controlled environment, where the subject goes to sleep and wakes up at close to the same time everyday.
One should also attempt to figure out whether actually watching TV is causing poor sleep, or whether watching TV is just causing less sleep. References Custers, K. (2012).
Television Viewing, Internet Use, and Self-Reported Bedtime and Rise Time in Adults: Implications for Sleep Hygiene Recommendations From an Exploratory Cross-Sectional Study. Behavioral Sleep Medicine, 10(2), 96-105. Louzada, F. (2004).
Sleep-Wake Cycle in Rural Populations. Biological Rhythm Research, 35(1/2), 153-157. Nag, C. (2012).
Impact of television on sleep habits. Biological Rhythm Research, 43(4), 423-430.
