Weight Loss Tip: Don’t Sleep With Radio or TV On

Weight Loss Tip: Sleep Without Radio and TVWeight Loss Tip: Sleep Without Radio and TV

Noise and Light Inhibit the Initiation and Quality of Sleep.  

In 18 years of medical practice, I get at least one patient that is there to see me about the quality of their sleep, and when I complete a sleep hygiene review, I find that they watch TV or listen to the radio in bed.  The bed is for only two things: sleep and sex.  Neither of these fit into those categories, so they need to happen in another room of the house.  Despite medical providers indicating what the cause is, they will argue with you until they are blue in the face that they cannot sleep without them on and that the life-long electronic buddy is not the problem.  

Weight Loss Tip: Sleep Without Radio and TV

Weight Loss Tip: Sleep Without Radio and TV

The light from a TV energizes the mind, and all noise inhibits sleep[1].  Poor sleep activates the cortisol pathway and causes fat storage and increased stress, in fact, the lack of quality sleep have been directly tied to obesity[2].  

Footnotes
[1]Gamble et al., “Adolescent Sleep Patterns and Night-Time Technology Use: Results of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Big Sleep Survey.”
[2]Owens and Weiss, “Insufficient Sleep in Adolescents: Causes and Consequences.”
Gamble, Amanda L., Angela L. D’Rozario, Delwyn J. Bartlett, Shaun Williams, Yu Sun Bin, Ronald R. Grunstein, and Nathaniel S. Marshall. “Adolescent Sleep Patterns and Night-Time Technology Use: Results of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Big Sleep Survey.” Edited by Stefano Federici. PLoS ONE. Public Library of Science (PLoS), November 12, 2014. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0111700
Owens, JA, and MR Weiss. “Insufficient Sleep in Adolescents: Causes and Consequences.” Minerva Pediatrica, February 17, 2017. [PubMed]
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About the Author

ChuckH
I am a family physician who has served in the US Army. In 2016, I found myself overweight, out of shape, and unhealthy, so I made a change to improve my health. This blog is the chronology of my path to better health and what I have learned along the way.

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