To think you do not need the TV on in order to fall asleep?

[Boomerwang]

My OH and one of our lodgers reckon they can't fall asleep without putting the tv on first. I couldn't do that, the rise and fall in pitch and volume would drive me mad, if the flashes across the room didn't.

I think it's a waste of electricity. My OH often falls asleep on the sofa as I will not have a tv in our bedroom. I get cross when he's lying there drooling as I'm trying to find a spot to sit down and feed our baby at 5am.

Who else needs noise to sleep? Why??

Dh does, but really low, he has tinnitus and says that the tv on low distracts him from the tinnitus and helps hims leep. Our tv in the bedroom has a timer though so he sets it for 30 mins usually

ME! I work nights, so use the tv to block out outside noises during the day. I have got so used to it, I have the tv on at night too.

I like it on to fall asleep if I am having trouble. It's set on a timer to turn off.

I put a DVD on and then the tv turns off when nothing is playing, If I pick up a book then I will not fall asleep

My OH can't drop off without the telly on in background its very odd but true

My brother does. I used to have to go in and turn it off as it annoyed me from the next room

Why can't you feed the baby in your bedroom at 5am?

I do, i have the tv on every night. My mind just seems to run into overdrive if it's quiet and I lie there getting no sleep.

Sometimes I do.

I suffer with severe chronic pain, so it is hard to drop off at times. If I lie there tossing and turning, I get more and more annoyed and stressed. If I put the TV, or my iPad on down low, I find it easier to fall asleep.

If I try and snooze on the sofa while the tv is on the volume seems to shoot right up as soon as I close my eyes! I have no idea how people can use it it to sleep! I suppose we're all different - some people are comforted by background noise, others are irritated by it.

Not so much TV, but I do stick my Ipod on in my room to fall asleep to. Comes from growing up with noise (could hear the motorway from where we lived). Now live in a really quiet area and I struggle to sleep without the music!

I have to fall asleep with a film on. I just can't sleep in complete eerie silence. When I'm left to my own thoughts, my mind starts running through the little stresses of the day and other things I've got to do, so I can't mentally switch off. For me it's less about the content of the film and more about the background hum of noise which helps me to drift off. I prefer DVDs to TV because I can keep it at a level low volume, whereas I notice when TV goes to adverts, they always seem to be louder than the programmes.

My mate has to have the tv on to sleep. At full volume too. Baffles me. I need pitch black and deathly silence.

I don't fall asleep to the telly but I do have to read my book or my phone till I fall asleep. Can't just lie there with my eyes shut and hope to get to sleep.

If I ever fall asleep with the telly on, it gets into my dreams and I wake up all confused a few hours later dreaming what is now on the telly. If that makes sense

I do tend to fall asleep with the tv on nowadays bu can sleep without. I used to not be able to sleep without the tv on because I would pay too much attention to my heartbeat and breathing and would have panic attacks and think I was going to die. My Dad died in his sleep quite young so it took me years to come to terms with it.

Lots of people do get into that habit but it's awfully bad for you - radio or audiobooks in the dark much healthier.

If I'm having trouble dropping off I put either the tv on quietly or a radio/iPod and set the sleep timer. Background noise really helps me drift off. It was the first thing I noticed when I moved out of the family home to live on my own in my flat, I really missed the low level noise that comes with living its other people.

I went though a phase where I could not sleep without a cassette of the Orb on low volume.

I really don't need it, but I'm in student accomm. with paperthin walls and it can be so bloody noisy/weird that I put a tape on at the beginning in pitch black (well, as pitch as I can make it) and I can feel myself growing sleepier as it goes on....usually I don't remember listening to the last song cos I fall asleep soon.

I often wake up at 2am or so and obviously can't listen to music w/o headphones then, so get some tea and then lie down and concentrate on breathing until I get the 'going heavy' feeling. That works best, along with the tape in the dark thing.

I'd hate to fall asleep to the TV. You can't be getting a very good quality of sleep anyway, with something flashing and varying every second in front of your eyes.

I couldn't listen to music, as I am a skipper and never listen to a full song and audio books I would want to know the ending.

I tend to put a rubbish DVD on and I fall fast asleep.

If I didn't put the DVD on my thoughts would drive me crazy

It is a habit I have battled with for most of my life. I hate it! I have gone through phases of really needing it on all night, getting panicky if DH turned it off. It started when I was a teenager and first got severe depression. It took a lot of work to get over this habit but I think there will always be times when I need it - for example when I am sick. It has to be a DVD that I know well so that I can shut my eyes and listen to it (stuff like big bang theory, friends, Futurama etc - it is very comforting.

It is really bad 'sleep hygiene' though. We don't have a tv in our room (which we did when we still lived with my parents) and never will - the nights I need tv I sleep downstairs, this also allows me to be more propped up if I am wheezy. I have developed chronic fatigue syndrome in the last two years and it has got pretty bad, so sometimes I really need it, but I know that proper sleep is more important than ever, so I am really trying not to use tv at night.

I need the TV (on timer) or something on the radio (from iPlayer so it ends at the finish of the programme) to drop off. I can only go straight to sleep if I am ill, super tired or tipsy.

DH says he needs complete dark and silence to settle, though seems to manage a cheeky nap on the sofa in front of Sunday afternoon sport...

3monkey - I agree with the volume thing, always have to turn it down a notch or two when the light goes out. I guess it's to do with blocking one sense, so the others start to make up for it.

I recently read that having tv on messes melatonin production because you aren't having complete darkness - and apparently this is linked to cancer?! I am not usually one to take note of all the many 'such and such causes cancer' headlines, but I am using this as an extra reason to keep away from nighttime tv. I am very glad that my DCs settle fairly well (after terrible sleepless phases in baby/toddlerhood) and there is no way they will be getting a tv in their room. I don't want them to be as messed up as me!