Falling asleep in front of the TV

I’m writing this close to sunrise, dealing, yet again, with a slight bout of insomnia.  I’m not sure why I’m having a tough time sleeping. I suspect that it’s because I had dinner too late, and my stomach is still digesting the steamed rice and fried fish I had slightly past midnight. But it could also be because my day job has me working from two in the afternoon to eleven in the evening, and it’s really just taking me this long to slip into snooze mode.

Or perhaps it’s because, just before hitting the covers, I decided to turn on the television, and in the four or so hours that it’s been on, I’ve watched the last two stunts of a “Fear Factor” episode, in one of a pretty blonde shoots an arrow right into the center of a target; a TV movie about a judge that is set up by a senator; a CSI rerun (happily, it was that Season 1, Episode 2 I mentioned recently, where Gil Grissom and Sara Sidle first work together) where a girlfriend kills her boyfriend because he dumps her after winning a million dollars at the slot machines; a portion of Law & Order, where Assistant District Attorney Jack McCoy argues eloquently that the defendants did intend violence in their actions; a quick Fox Crime episode on Egyptian artifact smuggling; and an episode of Haunted Evidence, where psychic detectives tried to look for the truth behind an influential man’s disappearance.

Yeah. No wonder I can’t sleep.

I’ve been told that the bedroom should be designed to be exactly that—a bed room. This means that once you enter the room, you head straight for the bed and think of nothing but sleep. It should be a relaxing, sleep-inducing oasis. Everything else non-sleep related should be out of sight, like your laptop, your book shelf, your television. Yes, the television. But how many of us really fall asleep to the tune of Law & Order reruns, or, at least old movies?

Having the television on as white noise is quite a common habit, especially to those who have a television in the bedroom. In my family alone, four out of originally six family members can fall asleep in front of the television. What few people know is that this causes a number of health problems, including sleep disturbances, especially in children.

In my case, I think I’ve started to associate sleep with the television—which could be good, if only relaxing shows are being in the wee hours of the morning. Unfortunately, most of what’s on are the sort of shows that stimulates you into wakefulness—shows like the ones I’ve mentioned above. I’ve recently also started to develop some kind of “night terrors,” where I wake up from a semi-bad dream, a bit confused about the time.

I think this signals change. From hereon, I’m not going to watch television before bed again, except when it’s a really, really important replay—like American Idol, for instance, which is replayed in Star World at 11.30pm and again at 1.30am. I’ve dug out some tips to help me:

Set a specific bedtime. I’m in a sort of call center set-up, so I should be careful about throwing my circadian rhythm off-track.

No food close to bedtime, especially sugary or carbohydrate-rich ones. The sugar rush will keep me away from bed, for sure.

Make sure the bedroom is dark. I’ve put up thick curtains and I have some eye covers for this.

No TV. Yes. No. TV.

And no Internet either.  If you think TV’s stimulating, try the gloriously interactive Internet.

No pills, though. Wish me luck. I’m off to dreamland now—and I hope to dream of David Cook being safe in American Idol today.

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