Shocking study: Dozing off while watching TV can cause… premature death

Sputnik reported that researchers at Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago (USA) warned that in fact, if falling asleep while watching TV regularly occurs, it can lead to many health risks. , including premature death.

The new sleep study 'Light at Night in Older Adults' assessed the health status and sleep habits of 552 people between the ages of 63 and 84. The focus of the study was to determine the effect the dynamics of ambient light, also known as general lighting - the overall lighting of a room - for sleeping people.

Accordingly, research shows that people who go to bed with even the slightest light are more prone to diabetes, obesity and high blood pressure.

"People should do their best to avoid or minimize the amount of light they are exposed to during sleep," warns researcher Phyllis Zee. Mr. Phyllis Zee explained that the reason ambient light can be harmful to health is insulin resistance.

Insulin resistance is a condition in which a person's cells, in muscle, fat or liver, do not respond effectively to insulin and are unable to properly use blood glucose for energy. This deficiency forces the pancreas to make more insulin. And so, over time, it causes a reaction that causes blood sugar to rise.

According to the clinical journal American Family Physician, this particular condition is often associated with type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease.

Insulin resistance is more likely to occur in the morning, after a person has slept in a room with ambient light or the type of light emitted by a television.

'We are showing an underlying mechanism to explain why this happens. We show it is affecting your ability to regulate glucose levels,' the experts emphasized.

The data cited showed that 17.8% of study participants who went to bed at night with an ambient light source had diabetes. Meanwhile, 9.8% of the participants who had the habit of sleeping in complete darkness did not have diabetes.

Another aspect of the study was obesity: about 40.7% of the participants who did not reduce their ambient light sources while sleeping were obese. For those who slept in the dark, only about 26.7% were obese.

There are several other important factors that show how health can be impaired by sleeping in a well-lit environment. For example, such people often have trouble sleeping and will sleep very late. According to researcher Zee, late sleepers also tend to have a higher risk of cardiovascular diseases and metabolic disorders.

However, the researchers caution that television is not the only device that affects sleep, as smartphones are also distracting at night. A 2019 Common Sense Media poll found that about 36% of teenagers and 26% of adults constantly wake up in the middle of the night to check their mobile devices.

According to sleep experts, people should stop using their phones at least three hours before bed, to avoid the blue light from electronic devices 'tricking' the brain into thinking it's still daytime.