Getting into bed early enough to watch a show on your TV or laptop is one of life’s little luxuries, but getting to the end before you nod off can be a real challenge, especially if you’re watching something calming and familiar like Friends or Gilmore Girls.

Before you know it, you’re spending the night with the screen shining directly into your face – or until Netflix finally realises you’re no longer watching and switches off.

You don’t need to be an expert to know that nodding off in front of the TV isn’t the best thing you can do for your sleep. But according to research, having any form of ambient light around you at night – whether that’s from a TV screen, bright alarm clock or intrusive streetlight – could do more than just mess with how well you rest.  

Before we get into the deeper stuff, let’s take a quick look at how sleeping with light around us can impact how well we sleep. Max Kirsten, resident sleep expert for Panda London, explains that the affect ambient lighting can have on our sleep is “significant”.

“Nighttime ambient lighting can disrupt our circadian rhythm and suppress melatonin production,” Kirsten says. “Exposure to artificial light at night, especially blue light emitted by electronic devices and LED lights, confuses the body’s internal clock, making it harder to fall asleep and stay asleep. This disruption in the sleep-wake cycle can lead to insomnia, fragmented sleep and overall poorer sleep quality.”

On top of this disruption to circadian rhythm, nighttime light exposure can also make it harder for us to transition into the deeper stages of sleep, Kirsten adds. As well as causing you to feel less refreshed and energised when you wake up, this lack of restorative sleep can also have wider implications for your health and wellbeing.  

The latter stages of our sleep cycle are incredibly important for our health and wellbeing; deep sleep, for example, contributes to tissue repair, muscle growth and immune system support, while REM sleep plays a role in memory consolidation and emotional processing.

When we go without these stages – for example, when we’re sleeping with ambient lighting – things can go pear-shaped quickly. A study from Northwestern University found that exposure to even moderate ambient lighting during the night can harm your cardiovascular function and increase your insulin resistance the following morning.  

This meant that participants in the study experienced increased heart rate and blood sugar levels because of the light they were exposed to, which can have a damaging effect in the long term.

“Over time, chronic sleep disturbances caused by nighttime ambient lighting can contribute to a host of health problems, including obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and mood disorders,” Kirsten says. “Therefore, minimising exposure to artificial light at night and creating a sleep-friendly environment is crucial for maintaining optimal health.” 

If you want to give your sleep a healthy boost, minimising the ambient lighting in your room at night is a good place to start. Here are some simple changes you can make.

1. Set your laptop to auto-sleep

If you want to watch TV in bed before you go to sleep, make sure your laptop is set to switch off automatically if you do happen to nod off. That way, you won’t spend the night bathing in the glow of Ross and Rachel having another disagreement.

2. Get black-out blinds or curtains

This one’s kind of obvious, but black out blinds or curtains are a great option for anyone who lives on a brightly lit street or just wants to make sure things are nice and dark.

3. Pick up an analogue alarm clock

The light from most digital alarm clocks won’t make much of a difference, but if you feel like yours is overly bright, opting for an analogue option will cut out any potential disruption. Just make sure to keep the batteries stocked up to avoid unintended lie ins. 

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