People Who Need The TV On To Fall Asleep At Night Usually Display These 10 Behaviors, According To Psychology
The real reasons why you struggle to fall asleep at night without background noise.
Anastasiia Nelen | Unsplash We’ve all been there. You need the TV on to fall asleep. You can't fall asleep without background noise. You struggle to get a solid night’s sleep, and then wake up exhausted.
“There are several medical reasons why one might feel tired even if with enough sleep,” Dr. Chirag Shah, a physician who specializes in sleep disorders and sleep medicine.
People who need the TV on to fall asleep at night usually display these 10 behaviors:
1. Your hormones could be off
“Getting testosterone levels checked can be a good first step towards finding a cause for low energy during the day,” Shah recommends.
Men’s testosterone levels naturally decline with age, and fatherhood may cause low testosterone, too. Simple lifestyle changes, such as increasing exercise and investing in a healthy diet, can stop men stave off low-T fatigue.
2. You’re not getting enough natural light
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“Exposure to light stimulates the brain and body, causing us to be more awake and alert,” registered nurse Rebecca Lee explains.
Employees cooped up in a poorly lit office may feel tired regardless of how they slept the night before. So if you’re exhausted, try taking it outside — the natural light could be the boost you need. Even if that does not help, research shows that screaming can boost energy and adrenaline. It’s much more socially acceptable to scream yourself awake outdoors.
A study from the Journal of Pineal Research indicates a strong link between inadequate natural light exposure during the day and the tendency to rely on television as a sleep aid, primarily due to the disruption of the body's natural circadian rhythm caused by blue light emitted from screens, which suppresses melatonin production and makes falling asleep harder without external stimulation like TV.
When your body doesn't receive enough daylight cues to signal nighttime, it can be harder to wind down without artificial light sources like a television.
3. You may have a breathing problem
“Individuals with sleep apnea often sleep enough hours at night, but snore loudly, wake often, and also wake others with their snoring,” family physician Crystal Bowe says.
People with sleep apnea may sleep eight full hours, but because that sleep is constantly interrupted they don’t reap the same restful benefits from it. Sleep apnea can also cause blood pressure to increase, adding to tiredness overall.
And since men have larger larynxes, their airways close more often while lying down. These tired guys may be getting more quantity than quality sleep, as a result.
4. You may have a problem with your glands
The thyroid, a little butterfly-shaped gland in the neck that regulates metabolism and digestion, can cause plenty of problems if it’s not working properly — the other butterfly effect. Underactive thyroids, or hypothyroidism, result in exhaustion as well as constipation, dry skin, and hair loss.
“When underactive, the thyroid cannot properly perform its role in keeping our body’s processes running at full speed,” Shah says.
While testosterone and sleep apnea appear to affect men disproportionately, hypothyroidism occurs most often in women. Could be why your wife is so tired.
Current research indicates that the blue light emitted from screens, particularly at night, can disrupt the production of melatonin, a hormone crucial for sleep regulation. Melatonin is produced by the pineal gland, potentially explaining why some people might rely on TV to fall asleep due to its light exposure, even if they don't consciously realize it. This disruption can lead to sleep difficulties and delayed sleep onset.
5. You need to move your body more
“A sedentary lifestyle may be the biggest cause of tiredness,” Lee says, because a lack of exercise deconditions the body’s musculoskeletal and cardiovascular system.
Conversely, exercise increases energy and decreases the likelihood of becoming tired for no reason, studies show, because what good is being hotter and healthier if you’re too tired to enjoy it?
6. You’re not drinking enough water
It only takes about a 1.5 percent drop in water volume in the body to cause dehydration, Lee notes, so many people walk around dehydrated all day without realizing it.
Dehydration makes people feel tired by causing muscle soreness, which increases fatigue and recovery time. On top of that, when you don’t have enough water, your body has to work harder.
“When your body is dehydrated, your overall blood volume decreases, making your body work harder to send oxygen and nutrients throughout the body,” Lee says.
A pilot study published in the International Journal of Exercise Science showed that dehydration can significantly impact sleep quality by causing discomfort such as headaches, muscle cramps, and dry mouth. This could lead people to rely on distractions like TV to fall asleep as a coping mechanism. The TV noise might help mask the discomfort of dehydration while trying to sleep.
7. You're drinking too much alcohol
Having a few beers after work may seem like it will help people wind down after a stressful day, but it can contribute further to fatigue from dehydration. Alcohol also reduces the amount of REM sleep you get, which can make a full night of shut-eye less restorative overall.
“Many people like to relax after a busy day with an evening drink or two,” Shah says. “Unfortunately, those drinks might end up making one feel more tired the next morning.”
8. You're drinking too much caffeine
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Coffee is a cruel mistress and as much as people drink it to wake up, it can have reverse effects.
Even when caffeine doesn’t hinder sleep, it blocks the brain’s adenosine receptors from receiving a crucial chemical that helps humans regulate sleep and awake cycles. When left alone, adenosine levels rise while awake and fall when it’s time to sleep, but caffeine can trip this up.
“Your body is still producing adenosine but the effects of it are delayed, causing you to feel it all at once after the rush of caffeine wears off,” Lee says.
Research by Frontiers in Nutrition shows that high caffeine consumption significantly disrupts sleep quality. This can lead to difficulties falling asleep, resulting in people turning to distractions like TV to wind down before bed. Caffeine disrupts natural sleep patterns, making people more reliant on external stimuli to fall asleep.
9. You're not eating enough of the right foods
Diet can have an impact on energy regardless of rest, and processed foods and even certain fruits can take their toll. Simple carbohydrates cause blood sugar to rise and fall, depleting energy, while bananas are full of magnesium, a mineral that can help with sleep.
Likewise, cherries are loaded with melatonin, so lay off those cherry and banana pancakes — but make sure to eat them. A lack of iron, vitamin D, and other nutrients can make it harder to stay awake, too.
“I had a client who was falling asleep in the middle of the day because she was on one of the latest trend diets and the body just wasn’t getting enough fuel,” dietician Shelley Rael warns.
10. You have a sleep hangover
An ideal night without newborns around includes five 90-minute cycles of sleep, about seven-and-a-half hours, Lee recommends. More than that can bewilder the body.
“When you sleep too long, your biological clock is thrown off and the cells are not communicating to the body that it’s time to get up,” she says.
Still, for most parents, the idea of being tired because they got too much sleep seems like an urban legend — or at the very least, a risk they’re willing to take.
A 2020 study indicates a strong link primarily due to the stimulating nature of screen light, the potential for arousal from content, and the disruption of the body's natural sleep-wake cycle caused by blue light emission from screens, especially close to bedtime. While many people experience adverse effects from using TV as a sleep aid, some may find the background noise soothing and conducive to falling asleep.
Lauren Vinopal is a writer, journalist, and comedian who focuses on topics of mental health and relationships. Her work has been featured in MTV News, Vice, GQ, Fatherly, MEL Magazine and more.