A regular nighttime habit could shorten your life by decades, the doctor warns… and we're all guilty of it
According to polls, about 60 percent of Americans have done this at least once. And about 80 percent of us are at high risk for this behavior.
Falling asleep in front of the TV is easy, especially if you're addicted to your favorite Netflix series.
But it can do more damage than you think — and even shorten your life, says Dr. Joe Whittington, a California-based emergency physician with nearly two million TikTok followers.
Some people may find that the soft glow of the television helps them fall asleep, but research suggests that sleeping in front of the dim light of TVs and other electronic devices such as computers can also affect our mood.
In the clip, Dr. Whittington describes studies by researchers at Northwestern University in Illinois on the effects of ambient light on sleep habits.
The study of 500 people found that those who slept with even the smallest amount of ambient lighting in the room were more likely to suffer from diabetes, obesity and high blood pressure – some of the country's biggest killers.
People who slept in dim light, for example close to a TV or even a smartphone, had higher insulin resistance the next morning.
This affected people's ability to regulate glucose levels.
Unstable and irregular blood glucose has been linked to a higher risk of type 2 diabetes.
The differences in obesity and diabetes among participants were “staggering,” Dr. Joe said.
He suggested turning off the screens on all devices before going to sleep.
“Try to make this lifestyle change to give yourself the best chance of a long, happy and healthy life,” he said.
Dr. Guy Meadows, clinical director of The Sleep School, a clinic in west London, previously echoed this advice.
'We are designed to sleep in the dark. When the sun rises, light receptors in the retina at the back of the eye tell us it's time to wake up by inhibiting the release of melatonin, the hormone that makes us sleepy.
'The reverse happens at night, so it's ideal to dim the lights as bedtime approaches as sleep is essential for regulating our mood.'
Any light in the bedroom, even the light produced by a TV, will disrupt these sleep hormones and cause us to be sleep deprived, which causes a bad mood.
Fatigue dampens the effect of the prefrontal cortex in the brain, which is responsible for more rational thinking, and makes us use the part of the brain responsible for emotions, called the amygdala, more.
This is the more primitive emotional regulator in the brain that exaggerates our emotions and makes us more prone to anger, aggression and sadness.
A study at Ohio State University found that hamsters who spent their nights with dim lighting (the equivalent of a television on in a dark room) showed more signs of depression.