Chronic Insomnia in the Age of Entertainment

Some sleep doctors and patients point to screen time as a cause of insomnia, based on bright light or the blue light component that inhibits melatonin release. This physiological disruption delays your sleep onset, leading to fewer available hours to sleep.

However, in my clinical experience screen time is the signal of a deeper issue among insomniacs, and therefore attempting to reduce the light, dim the light or block blue light only offers partial relief. The real “problem” is the individual initiated a waking behavior in bed, often for entertainment purposes. In years past, many read in bed knowing drowsiness would emerge in less than 15 minutes. The same is achieved with a phone screen by reading something or playing a game like Candy Crush.

Unfortunately, when screen time in bed expands beyond 15 minutes it usually signals the individual is suffering what I call (satirically) an “entertainment deficit.” Technically, I simply mean the individual feels as if something more is needed to distract the mind while waiting for sleepiness to emerge and what better way than to be entertained?

We have been living for decades in an Age of Entertainment, and now entertainment’s accessibility has turned it into a commodity where many individuals believe they require a certain “dose” to satisfy their entertainment “needs.” That’s all well and good if we embrace the view of humanity progressing towards more leisure time; therefore why wouldn’t we prefer more play time?

The answer at least for the insomniac would in general suggest you probably don’t need more play time. You need more time working on things to give you the feeling of accomplishment or productivity and ideally induce you to exercise some creativity. Such behaviors lead to a great deal of satisfaction in life, and it turns out this satisfaction leads to closure at the end of the day as in the awesome feeling of “a job well done.”

To be absolutely clear, someone who cleans houses for a living, enjoys the physicality of the labor, takes pride in doing an excellent job and appreciates the wages paid is much more likely, all things being equal, to suffer no bouts of sleeplessness compared to another person who cleans houses, suffers aches and pains from the physicality, seeks only to do an adequate job, and feels aggrieved for the amount of money earned.

Which individual “needs” more entertainment to close out the day? The first individual clearly blessed with a capable attitude, solid work ethic, and appropriate sense of pride and gratitude is not likely to be burdened by a need for more distraction or more entertainment at the end of a day. The second individual is not so fortunate; for whatever reasons this individual’s mind or body or both appear not well suited to this job, so at the end of the day the sense of accomplishment, productivity and pride do not reach a level of satisfaction useful for closing out the day. Therefore, this individual must find something else from which to gain satisfaction; and, in our society entertainment is often selected to fill this void.

There are of course many variables in each and every human life. The above examples are painted in a way to see how one is highly effective in leading to a good night’s sleep while the other has several counterproductive features making it more difficult to even get ready for sleep at bedtime. In these examples, the objective is to help you realize that finding ways to gain satisfaction in your daytime hours proves more efficient in the long-run and often reduces the need for entertainment near bedtime.

Chronic insomnia, as we’ll cover at next Thursday’s Discussion group, often involves a problem of dissatisfaction with things during the day. It’s not the only cause, but it’s a surprisingly big cause. Surprisingly, a fair proportion of insomniacs don’t even realize it. For this reason, my patients learn that insomnia begins first thing in the morning right when you awaken but do not find yourself looking forward to a productive and satisfying day.

In sum, the actual use of the screen (irrespective of any light effects) for a prolonged period at night raises a red flag about what the individual may have accomplished or not accomplished during the daytime. Most commonly, a greater sense of accomplishment fosters a greater degree of emotional closure at bedtime, all of which leads to fewer bouts of insomnia.

- Barry Krakow, MD

https://fastasleep.substack.com/p/insom ... mpaign=cta

zonker wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 01, 2021 10:59 am

did the insomnia get to you?

you posted at 3:46 am

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 01, 2021 5:07 pm

Looks like CG was posting around 5:45 AM if she was in Chicago.

zonker wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 01, 2021 5:52 pm

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 01, 2021 5:07 pm

Looks like CG was posting around 5:45 AM if she was in Chicago.

'twas a joke, that is all.

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 01, 2021 6:50 pm

zonker wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 01, 2021 5:52 pm

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 01, 2021 5:07 pm

Looks like CG was posting around 5:45 AM if she was in Chicago.

'twas a joke, that is all.

I figured as much but thought I would explain the post time thing just in case anyone was wondering.

zonker wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 01, 2021 5:52 pm

'twas a joke, that is all.

ChicagoGranny wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 02, 2021 8:38 am

zonker wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 01, 2021 5:52 pm

'twas a joke, that is all.

I lost sleep over your comment.