This week's question is one that has been left open-ended since the dawn of time. Get ready for it.....Do you (or your bedfellow) watch tv while you are going to sleep? (Ok, so maybe not that trivial, but this has been a major disagreement since Peppy and I first got together.) Apparently since childhood he has always had the tv on when he goes down for the night, while I never, ever did. At first I didn't mind going to sleep with the tv on. Peppy knew that it annoyed me when I would have to get up in the middle of the night and turn the tv off, because I couldn't find the remote that was lost somewhere in the bed. Peppy sleeps so soundly that I can never wake him up anyway. I've tried. Many times. But back then I could still fall asleep with it turned on without a problem.
Now I just can't do it. I can be half asleep on the couch and we'll go upstairs and Peppy will turn the tv back on. And I'm wide awake. With the bedroom tv on, there is no hope. I think it might have to do with the size of the screen, and the fact that it's on my side of the room. It's so bright, that even with my eyes closed it looks like a fireworks display is going off.
I kind of think there is really no gray area with this one. People either go to sleep while watching tv in bed, or they don't.(Or maybe even the radio?) Which person are you? I hope I'm not the only heinous wife who whines about not wanting to hear/see the tv when they are trying to sleep. Maybe it's really not that big of a deal, and I'm the only one with a problem.
I remember being much younger and having a radio on my nightstand. I would listen to Rick Dees' top 40 countdown every Sunday night. For some reason I wanted so badly to be a person who slept through the night while the radio was playing. There was some movie character who always slept with the radio on, and I must have thought they were cool. I'm so glad I don't have to relive my adolescence. That was a really weird time.
The only time that I've actually enjoyed having a tv in the bedroom was when the boys were babies. There were a lot of late night infomercials watched. Other than that, a tv in the bedroom isn't doing much for me. (But I do need some sort of white noise. We generally have a standing fan turned on.)
24 comments:
I'm with you, Deanna! I have to have complete darkness and silence in order to fall asleep and stay asleep, so my husband and I do not have a TV in our bedroom and probably never will. I also think having a TV in the bedroom can be an obstacle to...alone time. The most we ever do is watch a movie on my husband's laptop.
I could never fall asleep with the tv on! Wow, my parents would never have even allowed a tv to be in my room. But my husband likes to leave the shades up in our house so the light shines right in our bedroom when we wake--I like to leave the shades down, because the premorning light always wakes me up so early. But he likes it!
Ugh, I'm with you. I sometimes listen to an audio book but with my ipod or whatever buried under my pillows because even that little light drives me crazy. And it has to be something I've read a zillion times already so I don't get involved in the story and stay awake!
Does your TV have a sleep timer? Maybe that would help.
We only have one tv, so it's in the living room. I can fall asleep with it on, but I prefer to just not have one in the bedroom. I had one in my bedroom as a teenager and it had a sleep function so it'd turn off after however long I told it to. I haven't seen that option on new tvs though.
I always said (before) that we will NEVER have a TV in the bedroom, but after we moved to our house, we realized we never got to watch anything - since we also retired upstairs after our tot went to sleep, so got an internet TV in our room - honestly we have never been the kinds to sleep with the TV on - my husband being the neat freak that he is - everything is turned off and in place before he sleeps - and that works for me!
I have actually never slept with a tv on in my bedroom so I can't weigh in. But I do like to fall asleep with music playing. I also went through a phase where it was easier to sleep with the light on. You're definitely not a bad wife for hating it though silly! haha... sleep is so important and if you can't sleep, I'd be upset too
When I was in college, it was so comforting to me that on nights when I was alone - even though I had roommates - to have the TV on to fall asleep to, on a low volume setting. When Tyler and I got married, it was one of our biggest disputes! We didn't have a TV in our room for awhile, so it was a non-issue then, but we do again now. Maybe once a week, I still like to fall asleep that way - it's helpful when I can't go to sleep easy. I just don't understand why T hates it so much, he always falls asleep sooo easily, and early, regardless if it is on or not, so I don't get why it's a big deal to him? I don't like to wake up to it still on, either, though. I always set a sleep timer, so it'll turn off.
I totally am that person that has to fall asleep with the tv on. However, I will admit I do it because I am scared of the dark when I'm alone. So, even though I have the tv on, it has to be at a lower volume and I usually have a sleep mask on so I don't see the light from it. I know, total weirdo. And if I'm not alone? I can totally sleep in pitch black darkness and silence.
Oh, and I used to try to fall asleep to the radio to when I was younger, too. But I always had a tough time and without doubt would wake up in the middle of the night to shut it off because I wasn't sleeping properly from it.
We don't have a TV in our room, but I wouldn't be able to fall asleep with one on if we did. I can't sleep to music, either.
I can read myself to sleep anytime, but sounds are a different story. I also have a hard time sleeping on the sofa, or anywhere that is not my bed, really. You'd think even after having kids and being tired, I could sleep anywhere with any kind of noise, but I'm still pretty particular.
I'm with you. My sister sleeps with the TV on, and when I've stayed with her I just can't handle it. My head starts pounding from the light shining through my eyelids.
Rob's best friend's girlfriend has it even worse though - Rob's best friend has extreme tinnitus (ringing in the ears) from his time in the Army that he needs to have the TV going all night at a pretty high volume to drown out the ringing. He usually puts on a DVD, so when Rob was his roommate he'd wake up to the continuous cycling of the DVD menu once the movie had ended.
I occasionally crash in front of the TV in the living room, I admit. But never ever would U allow TV to be in the bedroom - ours or childrens.
I always used to sleep with the TV on when I was younger, but I can't anymore. My fiancé used to too, but after getting used to sleeping in the dark I found that while I could fall asleep with it on, I didn't sleep as soundly! We don't have a TV in our room now, though I do often fall asleep playing with my phone, which. Suppose is similar? Xxx
Neither of my parents had much exposure to TV growing up but while this made my mom NOT like it, my dad was in love. He insisted on having a TV in their room and it drove my mom crazy. When they divorced, my mom didn't get a TV again. So, I grew up without one except for when I would visit my dad. For awhile, I had to sleep on the floor of my dad's room, right behind his bedside TV. I could NOT sleep. I mean, there were biologically relevants sounds (talking, gunshots) all the time! Eventually we compromised by him watching it on his iPad with headphones. It was still bright but I couldn't hear it and that helped.
I am definitely not a TV person. We don't even have one in our bedroom but when we did, Ryan would always turn it off as soon as he started to get sleepy.
I used to sleep with music on! My neighbors were really loud night owls so that was the only way I could get to sleep. Ryan doesn't like a loud beeping alarm clock so his was a radio alarm and I'd sleep through it every.single.morning.
I do seem to have to have some kind of white noise now that I'm so used to sleeping with a fan in the summer and a heater in the winter.
No! I can't sleep with the tv on. If I do drift off, whatever is on interacts with my already weird dreams.
Luckily T doesn't need the tv on either, but he works nights anyway, so it doesn't matter.
I also enjoyed having a tv with a new baby, though I watched more MTV that I care to admit.
I also enjoy having a tv when folding and putting away laundry because that is my most hated chore, so it helps pass the time.
Oh! And as far as a radio, I can't do that either, but we do have a white noise machine. My brother used to sleep while listening to Metallica. No joke. We shared a wall and I hated it.
We just got a new tv so the old one is in our room now. I love it. I fall asleep watching documentaries on Netflix. I can't sleep without it.
I never thought we would be, but when I went to college I spent a summer living by myself in our 4 bedroom apartment. I used the tv to help me fall asleep and it just stuck. When we got married Kyle moved into my apartment and the tv was already in there. We watch through tv series, so typically we watch an episode or so and I fall asleep. Kyle stays up a lot later though so he turns it off and then goes and does whatever.
I really like it because it makes him come lay down with me at night, and he probably wouldn't otherwise.
Though I often fall asleep in front of the TV, I definitely don't like having it on while I'm trying to sleep. I don't imagine we'll ever have a TV in our bedroom, since Jordan doesn't like it on when we sleep either. He likes white noise, like a fan, but I hate any noise when I'm sleeping!
We do not have a TV in our bedroom, or I fear I'd have the same problem you do.
In related news, my fan broke and now it's too quiet. I'm having a terrible time falling asleep to the sound of my own breathing!
I always thought that if you have a tv in your room nothing else will happen in there ;)
That being said we don't have a tv at all by choice. I much rather fall asleep to my own thoughts.
You are not alone! Zeb and I have more arguments over the bedroom TV (and the thermostat temperature) than anything else. He wants it on; I want it off. We've finally come up with a compromise that works pretty well. He can have it on BUT he has to turn the brightness down as far as it will go and he has mute the tv and read the closed captioning. A lot of nights, I'll still end up waking up and turning it off while he's asleep. Zeb's brother gave him a pair of headphones that connect with the TV, so some nights when closed captioning doesn't work for him, he wears his bedtime headphones. I know, we're weird! :)
The bedroom TV was one of the biggest fights Dom and I had in our first year of marriage. I wanted it off (but a fan on) and he wanted it on (no fan). Yeah - it's a wonder we survived!
Five years later we sleep with no TV and a fan and we're both happy. He says it just grew on him. Ha!
I'm a scaredy cat, so I sleep with a light on every night. A TV being on doesn't really bother me unless it's too loud.
Also, many of you may not know of the situation going on in my area. Just a few minutes north of me a man invaded a school bus, shot and killed the driver, and took a six year old child yesterday afternoon. As of right now, he still has the child hostage in a bunker near his home. There are local and federal agencies trying to resolve the situation. Please send out prayers, or good vibes, or whatever you believe to be positive for the families involved.
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We are the music makers. We are the dreamers of dreams.
-Arthur O' Shaughnessy