Part of the reason it was hard for me to fully understand why some people need a show on if they're trying to snooze is that, as a serial TV lover, I always want to stay up to find out what happens next. How am I supposed to go to bed watching Survivor 50 when there's still a Tribal Council to get to? Wouldn't it be easier to have a white noise machine? After speaking with Dr. Patricia Dixon, a clinical psychologist, however, I learned that falling asleep to a TV show is very different than a sound machine.
Related: ‘I Tried Green Noise for 14 Nights of Sleep—Here’s What Surprised Me the Most’
Why Do Some People Go To Sleep With the TV On?
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“The TV drowns out their thoughts,” Dr. Dixon explains, adding that white noise, while helpful when it comes to disguising any bumps in the night, simply can't do the same.
People with ADHD are not a monolith. That said, some people with ADHD do, in fact, need a TV on to fall asleep.
According to Dr. Dixon, sleeping with the TV on isn't necessarily bad or unhealthy. However, it can be, especially for those who suffer from insomnia or have other sleep problems. For them, she says, “the suggestion is always to drown out noise, drown out any source of light— anything that could be a distraction from the silence of calling asleep.” A television show can definitely cause you to focus on what's happening on-screen rather than catching some z's.
Is Falling Asleep to a Show a Trauma Response?
“For some people, if they have experienced some level of trauma, they might have a hypervigilance to any noise,” Dr. Dixon explains. “So if the TV's on, it drowns out any other background noises that might make them alert or in a state of fear.”
1. Lonely
For those who live alone, Dr. Dixon says, watching TV can be “a distraction against loneliness.”
“I think that for a lot of people, when they're like, ‘I can't fall asleep unless the TV is on,’ it tends to be because they experience high anxiety or constant thoughts that keep them from being able to fall asleep,” Dr. Dixon states.
“Having the TV on in the background makes their brain focus on that instead of the thoughts that are worrying them or causing them anxiety,” she adds.
3. Overthinkers
“When people need the TV on,” Dr. Dixon says, “It's because they might be worried about something or thinking about something or overthinking about something.”
People who are very active and busy during the day sometimes have trouble winding down and shutting out the world come nighttime.
The noise from a show or movie can also keep very busy people from lying awake in anticipation of all the things they have to do the next day.
5. Multitaskers
Putting on Netflix to go to sleep can also be relaxing to multitaskers, Dr. Dixon reveals, because it is, in itself, a way to incorporate multitasking into your bedtime routine.
Multitaskers are also busy, she notes, so having the TV on while they fall asleep might be “their only way to be able to watch TV.”
7. Extra sensitive to noise
“People who have very high sensitivities to noise—so they'll hear cars or their neighbors, or they'll hear something that alerts them and causes them to be hyper-vigilant” sometimes need the TV on to fall asleep because it won't surprise them, Dr. Dixon shares.
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How To Break This Common Habit
“It might be that they develop a different routine every night of consistently turning the TV off at the same time,” she tells Parade. “Perhaps engaging in something like either reading or journaling in order to wind down and slow their mind, or at least empty out the thoughts that might be there.”
There's also meditation, yoga or a stretching routine—all worthwhile activities that can help quiet the mind before bed.
“Their own humming might be a way of detaching from the TV and then self-soothing to bring the same type of calm,” she states.
Related: Psychologist Says That People Who Rewatch the Same TV Show Over and Over Again Have These 7 Traits
Source:
Dr. Patricia Dixon, PsyD, is a clinical psychologist who specializes in talk therapy, coaching, and sound therapy. She is also a professor.Hence then, the article about 7 traits of people who need to have the tv on to fall asleep psychologist says was published today ( ) and is available on Parade ( Saudi Arabia ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
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