Bedroom Media on Sleep Quality

Watching Stephanie Soo right before you sleep may not be as soothing as it seems, nor is scrolling on Instagram or TikTok an effective sleep remedy. 19 percent of TikTok’s global 13 to 15 year-old users and 25 percent of its 16 to 17 year-old users are active between midnight and 5:00 a.m. This widespread global trend is harmful; research has shown that using electronics prior to sleep causes delayed bedtimes, irregular sleep-wake patterns, poor sleep quality, and increased tiredness during the day. These sleep problems further lead to chronic health conditions such as heart disease, high blood pressure, and depression. 

Our brain’s hypothalamus houses the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), which is in charge of regulating our body’s sleep-wake cycle. Our sleep-wake cycle, one of our body’s circadian rhythms, is further linked to our environment’s natural light-dark system; the light-sensitive neurons in our retina provide information to the SCN based on the amount of light present in our environment, synchronizing the internal circadian rhythm with the outside world in a process called photoentrainment. Other body parts also contribute to this cycle. In our retinas, intrinsically photosensitive ganglion retinal cells (ipGRCs) are directly responsible for our body’s response to light; ipGRCs perform many functions, including causing our pupils to constrict in response to excessive light through pupillary light reflex and are important in non-image-forming vision. More importantly, ipGRCs contain melanopsin—a photopigment primarily responsible for melatonin suppression—and provide a brain pathway to the SCN, linking the environment’s light-dark setting to our sleep-wake cycle. This link is manipulated by light from electronics, leading to disruptions in this circadian rhythm.

Electronics are known to emit blue light, which stimulates us to feel more alert. Compared to other colors, blue light possesses a short wavelength of around 380 to 550 nanometers, with considerably short frequencies. On the receiving end, melanopsin, located within the ipGRCs, is maximally sensitive to wavelengths of around 480 to 500 nanometers. As a result, when blue light enters our eyes, melanopsin responds directly, sending signals to the brain. These signals are then transported to neurons in the SCN. Circadian information from these neurons travels to the pineal gland, which is responsible for controlling the sleep-wake cycle by receiving information on the light-dark cycle and reflecting it with the production and secretion of melatonin. This triggers the pineal gland to suppress melatonin production, leading to lower sleep quality since melatonin helps induce a state of sleepiness and relaxation that is necessary for good quality sleep.

Naturally, melatonin levels are highest in the evening, helping to promote sleep in a state of quiet alertness. During the day, sunlight emits light—25 percent of this light measures at the wavelength associated with blue light, naturally suppressing melatonin levels. This explains why, when we are exposed to sunlight, we feel more awake. Meanwhile, during the evening, melatonin levels rise in response to darkness and the lack of sunlight, signaling our bodies to sleep. However, when blue light continues to trigger melanopsin in our ipRGCs during the night, melatonin levels become artificially suppressed. In a study on light’s effects on cognitive brain function, researchers found that subjects had reacted to auditory stimuli quicker and had fewer attention lapses when exposed to blue light versus green light. Consequently, our body’s internal perception of night’s duration is shortened, thereby decreasing the amount of time we sleep. Sleep quality—defined by sleep quantity, sleep onset latency, and alertness during waking hours—is thus disrupted, along with our natural sleep-wake cycle.

While bright light is one factor in lowering sleep quality, the media content we consume may further cause problems while sleeping. Overstimulation is the result of prolonged exposure to bright lights, smells, and certain sounds. Electronic devices emit bright lights, and they can cause our brain to become overstimulated; then, it is overflooded with neurochemicals such as adrenaline and epinephrine, keeping us awake and interfering with our normal sleep-wake cycle. Meanwhile, with TV or podcasts, our brains can also be overstimulated by the constant changes in sound. Our brain still intakes sound before we reach stage three NREM sleep, or deep sleep, meaning that it is still stimulated, catching onto the bits of dialogue while you drift off to sleep. When we cycle back to REM sleep, our thalamus is active, sending these auditory sensations into our cortex, which can result in the formation of disturbing dreams or nightmares that further decrease sleep quantity and quality. 

Furthermore, viewing social media before bed also contributes to worsened sleep quality through cognitive factors such as fear of missing out (FOMO), defined as the feeling of worrying that you may miss out on events as you do when you go to sleep. This results in compulsive social media use (CSMU), where adolescents prioritize social media engagement over sleep quality and sleep duration. A recent study on the relationship between social media and sleep health in teenagers indicated a positive correlation between FOMO with CSMU and CSMU with problematic sleep. The urge to check social media further disrupts our circadian rhythm and harms our sleep latency—the time it takes to fall asleep. Social media is associated with longer sleep latency, and viewing social media before sleep causes lower sleep quality and sleep duration due to students’ lack of self-regulation regarding FOMO and CSMU.

However, this does not mean that all types of media are harmful for sleep. For example, ambient music—characterized by its slow pace and lack of rhythm—stimulates the brain’s limbic system, creating pleasure and relaxation that lowers heart rate and blood pressure, which are two key factors in sleep latency. In addition, current findings demonstrate that music around 60 beats per minute can induce alpha waves of frequencies from eight to 14 cycles per second in the brain. The presence of alpha waves indicates a state of light sleep or relaxation and can slowly delve into delta waves present in REM sleep after listening to calming music for 45 minutes. As a result, listening to ambient music is shown to be an effective treatment for insomnia and other sleep disorders.

Many cognitive and physical factors of bedtime media, consisting of social media and TV, can result in reduced sleep quality and sleep duration. The common habit of climbing into bed and looking towards your device to settle down into sleep can cause disruptions to your body’s natural cycle of sleep psychologically and through brain interference. However, it is important to note that not all bedtime media are harmful. Consider listening to ambient music the next time you find it hard to fall asleep.