For many of us, screen time is a part of our bedtime routine. Maybe we watch an episode of Netflix in bed or scroll on our phones after turning out the lights. But we’ve probably all heard screen time and sleep aren’t exactly the best of friends.
But it’s not as clear-cut as that. In fact, screens may not be as bad for your sleep as we’ve been led to believe — as long as you use them in the right way.
Below, we’ll dive into the science behind screen time and sleep and whether you should avoid your phone and other devices before bed. Plus, we’ll cover how the RISE app can help you get a good night’s sleep, with or without pre-bed screens.
“I recommend my patients avoid screens about an hour before bed," says Dr. Chester Wu. "If you do use screens, make sure you use a blue light filter, you’re doing something relaxing, and keep an eye on the time, so you don’t stay up past bedtime. And get as much light exposure during the day to make nighttime light less impactful.”
Dr. Chester Wu is double board certified in Psychiatry and Sleep Medicine, and provides sleep medicine services, medication management, and psychotherapy to adults at his private sleep medicine and psychiatry practice.
Screen time includes any time you spend in front of a screen. This could be your cell phone, TV, laptop, tablet, or e-reader. From the scientific evidence we have, it seems screen time before bed does have an impact on sleep.
found that roughly every five minutes you spend on your smartphone in bed, your sleep can be delayed by four minutes, and every 10 minutes of smartphone use in bed can cause your total awake time to increase by nine minutes.
It also found that 30 minutes of smartphone use lead to 20 minutes less deep sleep, 30 minutes less light sleep, and 10 minutes more rapid-eye-movement sleep (REM sleep). Or, 30 minutes of smartphone use can lead to an hour of sleep loss each night.
found those with increased electronic device usage during the COVID-19 lockdown showed:
On the flip side, those who got less screen exposure showed improved sleep quality and insomnia symptoms.
A had similar findings and concluded, “COVID-19-related lifestyle changes, such as increased screen time, may negatively affect sleep health.”
Heads-up: One important thing to note, this research comes from a survey done during the pandemic, so it’s hard to tell if increased screen time caused these sleep problems, or if COVID, anxiety, and lifestyle changes like working from home, doing less exercise, and socializing less were at play.
Many of us think of our phones as the main culprit, but TV time may also be damaging to sleep. A found each additional hour of sitting while watching TV was linked with greater odds of a sleep onset latency of 30 minutes or more, waking up too early in the morning, poor sleep quality, and a high risk for sleep apnea.
In short, it seems screen time could impact your sleep, and it could become a vicious circle. If screen time before bed cuts into your sleep, you’ll become sleep deprived. And this sleep deprivation can tank your self-control and willpower, and increase your odds of procrastination, making it even harder to resist staying up late with screens the next night.
But while there are studies showing the negative impacts screens have on sleep, the jury’s still out. There is some evidence that screen time before bed could actually help you get better sleep (more on that soon).
And screens before bed can be useful. They can be enjoyable and help you relax, and you may use your phone to track your sleep. For example, RISE works best when it’s nearby to track your sleep (although, if you prefer to keep your phone out of your bedroom, RISE can get your sleep data from a wearable device instead).
More research needs to be done into the impact of screens before bed. But here’s why they may get in the way of a good night’s sleep.
Here’s a theory you might have heard of before. Screens — including your phone, TV, laptop, and even e-readers — give off blue light, a short wavelength of light. And this blue light can interfere with sleep.
Light suppresses the production of melatonin, the sleep hormone. And while all light can have this effect, our eyes may be more sensitive to blue light.
Without high enough melatonin levels, you may find it harder to drift off. Your circadian rhythm, your body’s roughly 24-hour internal clock, is pushed back. This messes up your sleep-wake cycle and can lead to sleep loss and low energy the next day.
A found longer exposure to screen light in the evenings leads to longer sleep latency on work days and more sleep inertia, or morning grogginess.
Screen light 1.5 hours before bed or during nighttime awakenings was linked to decreased subjective sleep quality, larger social jet lag (when you go to sleep at different times on your work days and days off), more daytime dysfunction, and more fatigue.
On the other hand, those who used blue-light blocking glasses in the evening slept for longer on weekdays.
The study concluded: “Our results are in line with other studies that converge to show the negative association of evening and night exposure to short-wavelength light on subjective and objective sleep parameters.”
A small exposed participants to two hours of light from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. The results showed those exposed to short wavelengths of light (like blue light from screens) had disrupted sleep continuity (waking up in the night) and more self-reported daytime sleepiness.
Their melatonin production decreased, as did the drop in body temperature needed before bed to fall asleep. Light intensity also negatively impacted sleep, but it wasn’t as disruptive as wavelength.
When it comes to which screens are most disruptive, some experts say phones may impact your sleep the most as they’re held closer to your face than a TV.
The light around your screen also makes a difference. A found night-time screen use was linked to poor sleep, but it was even worse when screens were viewed in a dark room versus a lit room.
We’ve covered more on the best color light for sleep here, including the best color light to use in the evening and at night.
It’s not all about the light coming off of the screen. What you’re looking at on the screen may be keeping you up, too.
You want to feel relaxed in order to fall asleep. But scrolling through stressful news stories, watching a fast-paced action show, or playing a violent video game probably won’t leave you feeling that calm.
You might be working late — which can lead to mental exhaustion and burnout — or scrolling on social media — which shows can lead to anxiety, depression, and poor sleep quality in teens.
Stressful content can cause a spike in the stress hormone cortisol, which can give you an energy boost — not exactly what you want before bed.
One of our sleep advisors, Dr. Jamie Zeitzer, Co-Director of the Center for Sleep & Circadian Sciences at Stanford University, told , “it’s like eating a candy bar.”
Positive content can also be disruptive, though. It can trigger the neurotransmitters dopamine and norepinephrine, which excite the brain. Again, not the state you want to be in before sleep.
found smartphone use in bed leads to increased sleep latency, higher average heart rate, and lower heart rate variability (a sign of poorer heart health). And smartphone use can lead to more time awake during the night and less sleep time in total.
But what participants were doing on their phones made a difference:
One thing to note, there’s no consensus definition for yet.
also shows passive screen time (like watching TV) may also be better than active screen time (like playing video games).
And when it comes to online video games, FOMO — fear of missing out — may keep you awake as you don’t want to switch off the device if your friends are still playing.
Another factor to be aware of? Multitasking with screens (think watching TV while scrolling on your phone) may be worse than using just one screen at a time. A found screen time an hour before bed was linked to an earlier bedtime and — if it didn’t involve multitasking and took place in bed — resulted in more sleep time.
If you’re watching something interesting or scrolling through engaging social media, it’s all too easy to keep watching, keep scrolling, and stay up long past bedtime. And if the blue light and arousing content don’t impact your sleep, the simple act of staying up late will.
A looked at the effects of using social media for 30 minutes before bed and controlled for blue light exposure. It found social media use didn’t increase arousal or impact participants’ sleep. But, the researchers noted, it could keep people up later simply because they’re scrolling instead of sleeping.
Sometimes you don’t even notice this happening. You might sit to scroll for five minutes before bed and before you know it it’s been 45 minutes.
But other times, you might know exactly what you’re doing. This is called revenge bedtime procrastination — or staying up past your bedtime despite having no real reason to. You might have had a long day of work and personal errands and want to stay up late to get some me time, which often involves a screen or two.
As most of us have to get up at a set time for work or school, staying up late cuts into our sleep time. This leads to a build-up of sleep debt, the measure of how much sleep you owe your body compared to your sleep need, the number of hours of sleep you need. High sleep debt affects everything from your energy levels to your mood to your mental and physical well-being.
As well as cutting into your sleep time in general, you may miss your Melatonin Window if you’re spending time on your phone or in front of the TV before bed.
Your Melatonin Window is what we call the roughly one-hour window of time when your body’s rate of melatonin production is at its highest. Going to sleep during this window can give you the best chance of falling and staying asleep. Miss it because you’re staying up with screens and you may struggle to fall asleep.
RISE can work out your unique sleep need, how much sleep debt you’re carrying, and predict the timing of your Melatonin Window each night.
RISE users on iOS 1.202 and above can click to view their sleep need and to set up a reminder to check their Melatonin Window.
