Anything wrong with falling asleep in front of the TV?

Summary

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Episode Summary: "Anything wrong with falling asleep in front of the TV?"

Podcast: What's That Rash?
Host: ABC News
Date: November 11, 2025

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Overview

This episode dives into the common, surprisingly complex question: "Is it bad to fall asleep in front of the TV?" Hosts Dr. Norman Swan and Teegan Taylor use a listener's email as a launching point to explore how television, content type, napping length, and blue light exposure affect sleep quality. Warm humor, relatable anecdotes, and references to scientific research make this an informative and engaging listen for anyone curious about sleep habits and health.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Listener Question: Muriel's Sleepy TV Habit

[03:17]

• Muriel, a healthy, active 72-year-old, falls asleep watching TV, even shows she loves like "Gardening Australia" or travel programs.
• She tracks her sleep and watches only 1–2 hours of TV in the evening, yet routinely nods off—sometimes even after an afternoon nap.

Is Falling Asleep in Front of the TV "Bad"?

[04:44] – [05:49]

• Brief naps (~10 minutes) are fine and refreshing, unlikely to affect sleep cycles.
• Longer, deeper sleep in front of the TV risks disrupting night sleep, which is the main concern—not missing TV content, but losing restorative nighttime rest.
• Dr. Swan jokingly adds risks of "a sore neck... or dribbling down your front," but emphasizes none are life-threatening.

Quote:

"The danger... is that it disturbs your night sleep afterwards because you've had a pretty decent sleep watching television."
— Dr. Norman Swan [05:34]

Why Does Relaxing TV Make You Sleepy?

[05:53] – [09:34]

• Content matters: Gentle, soothing shows (like "Gardening Australia" or Bob Ross art tutorials) activate the parasympathetic nervous system, promoting relaxation and sleepiness.
• More stimulating programs (news, thrillers) keep you alert.

Quote:

"What comes to the fore is the counter to your stress system. The parasympathetic nervous system goes into action—and that’s about relaxing your body."
— Dr. Norman Swan [06:20]

• After a busy day and a meal, your body enters "rest and digest" mode, which is the ideal state for drowsiness.

Studies on Soothing TV Content

[07:27] – [08:45]

• A study compared Bob Ross episodes vs. news segments of equal length:
  • Bob Ross viewers had reduced anxiety and depression, and increased parasympathetic activity—i.e., they were calmer and happier.
  • Stressful TV had the opposite effect.
• Cognitive load and engagement determine how likely you are to doze: engaging or “high cognitive load” programs keep you awake.

Meals, Digestion, and Sleepiness

[09:55] – [10:40]

• Eating, especially combined with relaxation, increases sleepiness due to the "rest and digest" phase.
• The body naturally diverts resources to digestion post-meal, boosting drowsiness.

Quote:

"The parasympathetic nervous system comes in, and that also gets you into this sort of pre-sleepy situation."
— Dr. Norman Swan [10:20]

The Role of Blue Light & Technology

[11:10] – [12:26]

• Blue light from screens (TVs, phones, tablets) suppresses melatonin, delaying sleep onset.
• However, the distance from TV screens likely alters the effect compared to phones/computers (less research here).
• Paradox: blue light should keep you awake, yet many still nod off in front of the TV.

Quote:

"Blue light does seem to have an effect on the sleep-wake cycle, which is one reason why you don’t want to be using screens late at night. And television does that too."
— Dr. Norman Swan [11:16]

“Why Am I Wide Awake After Moving to Bed?”

[12:26] – [13:07]

• Falling asleep on the couch may satisfy your immediate “sleep pressure”; by the time you get to bed, you’ve missed the ideal window, and blue light might delay melatonin further.
• Sleep occurs in cycles or "waves"—catching and missing these matters for falling back asleep.

Binge-Watching and Sleep Quality

[14:19] – [15:52]

• Binge-watching (watching many episodes in a row) is increasingly linked to poor sleep and more insomnia, especially among young people (ages 18–25).
• High pre-sleep "cognitive arousal" is the likely culprit: ongoing storylines keep the mind busy, unlike relaxing, stand-alone content.

Quote:

"Binge viewing is just television addiction. You get addicted to the story, and it's like a good novel—you just want to turn the page."
— Dr. Norman Swan [15:26]

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Practical Takeaways & Recommendations

[16:03] – [16:12]

• Try watching relaxing TV earlier in the day, not after a big meal or in the evening if you want to stay alert.
• Don’t worry too much if you nod off—especially if it doesn’t interfere with your nightly sleep.
• Don’t overthink casual napping or falling asleep if you’re otherwise healthy and well-rested.
• For those wanting to catch every minute: consider switching to on-demand viewing at more alert times.

Quote:

"Not worry about it, just go with the flow."
— Dr. Norman Swan [16:12]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• [02:56] B: "It's a very dad energy to fall asleep in front of the TV."
• [05:49] B: "Depending on how you're sitting, maybe a sore neck as well."
• [07:27] B: On Bob Ross: "Bob Ross significantly reduced anxiety and depression scores ... people were happier and calmer watching Bob Ross than the news."
• [09:34] D: "The last thing the producers of Gardening Australia want is for you to be aroused, so to speak."
• [13:17] D: "There is some evidence that when sleep-wake cycles are disturbed—and blue light exposure is part of that—your insulin metabolism, stress hormones... can get thrown out."
• [16:12] D: "Not worry about it, just go with the flow."

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Additional Topics Briefly Addressed

Acupuncture & Dry Needling

[16:15] – [19:19]

• Listeners wrote in following a previous episode, sharing experiences and debate over "sham acupuncture" and perceived efficacy.
• The hosts reinforce that the evidence for acupuncture’s effectiveness is mixed and varies with conditions.

Podcast Anecdotes

[01:19] – [02:20]; [19:35] – End

• Dr. Swan tells a humorous story about a pig that always fell asleep during his radio show, sparking laughs and setting the relaxed tone.
• The hosts mark their (accidentally missed) 100th episode with jokes about Norman’s famed tiramisu recipe and listener loyalty.

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Suggested Listening & Related Episodes

• What's That Rash? episode on napping ([04:57])
• Episode on post-meal sleepiness ([10:40])
• Episode discussing blue light and sleep health ([11:10])
• The Health Report podcast for more on chronic pain ([18:48])

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Conclusion

This episode assures listeners that falling asleep in front of relaxing TV programs is largely benign—sometimes a sign of a healthy "rest and digest" response. The real risk is disrupting your night sleep if you nap too long. Both hosts advocate a practical, relaxed approach: don’t stress if a gentle show sends you to sleep, but if you want to enjoy your favorite programs, try changing your routine or watch at a more alert time.

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Transcript

[A]

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[B]

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[C]

It's been 50 years since the biggest scandal in Australian political history.

[B]

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[C]

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[B]

Are you a guy that will sleep on the couch in front of the tv? Norman?

[D]

I try very hard not to. Have I ever told you my health report story before we got onto television?

[B]

Oh, gosh, which health report story? You've only been doing this show for four decades.

[D]

Well, once upon a time was in Port Douglas in a very nice restaurant with friends, non broadcasting friends. And the woman who owned the restaurant came up.

[B]

You have told me this story coming back to me now. No, no, no. Tell any. This is the dog story, isn't it?

[D]

No, no, no. It's the pig story. This is the pig story. Pig story.

[B]

So it's coming to her. Yes, yes, yes.

[D]

Please tell so this. So the owner came up to take our orders and she, I was giving mine, she said, oh, are you Norman Swan? And I said, yes. And my friends thought, I've paid her to say that. And she said, oh, we love the health report. But I tell you, the person in our household who really loves the health report is our pig. So now my friends are smiling because they know this is not a setup. I said, oh, really? Keeping a smile on my face. Yes, we have a very noisy pig, but every time the health report comes on, he goes to sleep.

[B]

Is that the compliment that you wanted to make?

[D]

Well, you know, it just means that, you know, trans species, you're either so.

[B]

Soothing that you're able to put a pig to sleep or you're so boring that even pigs fall asleep when you start talking.

[D]

It depends on the program and my state of mind. With television, I'll tell you where I do fall asleep and I do it consistently and I try hard not to. If I'm at a conference and somebody does PowerPoint slides, by the second slide I'm out. I don't know why, just I am out of it by the second slide. But television is a variable thing. It's kind of a dad thing, isn't.

[B]

I think it's a very dad. It's a very dad energy to fall asleep in front of the tv. And so I think as a dad and granddad, you're contractually obliged to fall asleep in front of the tv.

[D]

That's the question we're going to be answering on this week's what's that Rash?

[B]

The show where we answer the health questions that everyone is asking.

[D]

But this time it's not from a dad.

[B]

I don't believe so. Muriel has emailed in saying, all of my friends and I look forward to watching Gardening Australia. We all talk about how we fall asleep watching it.

[D]

Oh, Costa would be devastated to hear this.

[B]

Well, Muriel says we all like the program and are interested gardeners. I always check. I have eight hours sleep. I wake up without an alarm. I'm healthy and active, 72 years old. But Muriel says I fall asleep watching travel programs, which I love. I fall asleep in both a recliner and an upright chair. Even Muriel says if I have a 20 minute afternoon nap, I fall asleep. I don't watch much TV up to two hours in the evening, usually one hour. What is going on? Wow. Muriel sounds like she's done a fair bit of groundwork for us, like actually quite specific ruling things in and out, which actually helps us with our chat about this today.

[D]

It does. You know, I don't think it's just people who are 72 years old who fall asleep in front of a television. I think this is something that can happen to us all. Costa, please forgive us by using Gardening Australia as a case study here. A lot of this is timing and context in your general situation.

[B]

So, yes, I think that with this, there's sort of two questions here. Because my first question for you, Norman, upon reading Muriel's email, is, sorry, we're calling like, does it matter? Does it, Is it a bad. I mean, obviously you want to be able to catch Gardening Australia. You don't want to miss out on the excellent content of the program. But is it inherently a bad thing to fall asleep in front of a tv?

[D]

Well, it depends how long you fall asleep for. And if you fall asleep for five or 10 minutes, we would recommend. And we'll put the link in our show notes to go back to our. One of our early. What's that? Rashes on napping.

[B]

Oh, yes, quite an early one. And you disclosed your gold standard napping technique so people should go back and listen to that one.

[D]

That's right. We won't give it away, but it doesn't involve watching Gardening Australia. We hasten to add, it involves listening.

[B]

To a different ABC product.

[D]

Actually, that's right. Not Radio national, another one. Anyway, spoiler alert. The effect of napping depends on how long you nap for. So a 10 minute nap leaves you quite refreshed but doesn't by and large affect your sleep cycle. But if you sleep longer than that, you start to get into a normal sleep cycle. And the danger is with falling asleep in front of the television is that it disturbs your night sleep afterwards because you've had a pretty decent sleep watching television. So that's the main problem, I think, is that you, apart from missing the show and when to plant your daffodils, what you're risking is your night's sleep.

[B]

And depending on how you're sitting, maybe a sore neck as well.

[D]

That's right. Or dribbling down your front. So there are multiple risks here, none of which are life threatening. And it's also that you're watching in the evening. Now what Muriel says, even if she's had a nap, she will fall asleep in front of the television. Well, there is a soporific effect and we'll come back to that in a moment. But the greater your sleep pressure, if you had a busy day, you've been at work, you've had your meal, you might have had a glass of wine with your evening meal. And you sit down, you relax, you're enjoying yourself. And it really depends on what you're watching because what you're watching here is Gardening Australia, where it's relaxing, it's gentle, it's gentle. And what comes to the fore is the counter to your stress system. The parasympathetic nervous system goes into action and that's about relaxing your body. And that's the state that you want to be in before you fall asleep. And that's what that kind of television does. You should be watching the Wire, for.

[B]

Example, something that's got you on the edge of your seat.

[D]

That's right, a gardening version. You are going to plant this seed, otherwise you're gonna regret it forever.

[B]

Guys, the government's at stake. Well, no, it's funny that you should mention the content of what you're watching. Because there have been scientific studies into this. Not Gardening Australia, but. Norman, are you familiar with Bob Ross?

[D]

I wasn't until Shelby, our producer, did the research on it. Apparently the rest of the world is aware of Bob Ross and I wasn't until very a few hours ago.

[B]

Did you watch the video?

[D]

I did.

[B]

Did it make you fall asleep?

[D]

I was thinking about other things, but I could see how it would.

[B]

It's very gentle. So, okay, so if you, like Norman, have not really known who Bob Ross is, I reckon if you saw him you would know. He's a TV painter guy and so he does like art videos showing you how to paint a beautiful landscape. He's got this incredible head of very, very curly hair. He's a very gentle voice and it is such a soothing thing to watch him paint a landscape. And he talks to you so and so gently. He's like, I hope you're having a really great day. I hope it's really nice wherever you are. Let's paint together. And it's all very low stakes and I can totally see why that would put you to sleep. Anyway, they did a study, a study where they got people to watch Bob Ross and then they did a time matched control group where they watched the same length of time of news. Basically stressful, stressful TV they watched.

[D]

Here comes the shock that nobody's expecting from the results.

[B]

Well, Bob Ross significantly reduced anxiety and depression scores, but they also measured activity in the heart and found the parasympathetic nervous system was more active, which basically means people were happier and calmer watching Bob Ross than the news. Am I shocked? I don't think so.

[D]

And of course there is another reason for all this is. And again, I feel bad about Costa here in Gardening Australia. But you know, it's not high cognitive load stuff. You know, it's not like 7:30 where the story changes, changes every six or seven minutes and you've got to think again.

[B]

The show that you're on, which is.

[D]

Very stimulating, I produce a high cognitive load anytime I'm on 7:30 or 4 corners. But you know, what I'm saying is that you've got to think about it, you've got to get involved. If you watch media watch, that's high cognitive load. It's amusing as well as provocative. Whereas Gardening Australia, it's like Bob Ross. It's friendly, you're learning stuff, you're watching people in the garden. It's designed to be relaxing. Television, the last thing the producers of Gardening Australia want is for you to be aroused, so to speak.

[B]

I thought you were sticking the boot in, but then you were kind at the end.

[D]

When you see people queuing up to St. Costa's books, you do wonder about arousal, but that's another matter.

[B]

People dig the garden, though, man, they do. And so that's the kind of the content of what you're watching. But you were also talking about the role of the meal that you've eaten before you've sat down to watch the tv.

[D]

Yes. Because your body goes into digestion mode and that is also when the parasympathetic nervous system comes into action. Because when you've got the stress system in action, in other words, adrenaline flowing, the digestive tract doesn't work as well because you don't want to be spending body resources when you want to run away from when you want to fight.

[B]

Or fight or flee.

[D]

Fight or flee. You don't want to be bothered by digestion. So digestion doesn't work as well when you're on the alert. Whereas if you leave your body to its own devices, the parasympathetic nervous system comes in and that also gets you into this sort of pre sleepy situation. You get drowsy.

[B]

I've heard it called rest and digest. That parasympathetic nervous system is like where your body's channeling its resources. Rest and digest. So, yeah, digesting and also maybe snoozing.

[D]

And we do have a Watch that rash on why you fall asleep after a. People want to know a lot about why you fall asleep on awkward moments, why you feel sleepy after a big meal. We've got to watch that rash on that.

[B]

What's that rash on everything. So I'm thinking we've already talked about napping duration, we're talking about why you're sleeping after a big meal. And then the next chapter of this chat also refers to a different WhatsApp rash we've talked about, which is about the spectrum of visible light and how that can affect your health. Because screens are associated with blue light.

[D]

Yeah. So blue light is increasingly being recognised as having a very specific effect on the brain, particularly the pineal gland and melatonin and suppressing that in terms of sleep. So most screens will emit some degree of blue light. Blue light does seem to have an effect on the sleep wake cycle, which is one reason why you don't want to be using screens late at night. And television does that too. Now, whether or not the distance from television makes a difference in terms of the light impact Compared to a screen close to your eyes is not well researched. But there have been studies looking at deliberately exposing people to blue light and showing that it does have an influence on the sleep wake cycle.

[B]

So this is the thing where you. Okay, falling asleep in front of the tv, is that bad for you? Well, maybe you've slept for too long and that disrupts your nighttime sleep. And maybe there's potentially a risk that the blue light emitted from the screen also is disrupting your ability to fall asleep and have a good night's sleep later in the night.

[D]

Yes. Now this doesn't explain why you fall asleep in front of the television.

[B]

Because the effect, it should do the opposite.

[D]

Yeah, that's right. Because the effect of blue light is to inhibit melatonin secretion. So it's not entirely clear how blue light might affect it. But if you're not getting a good night's sleep because of screen viewing the following night, you might be more likely to have a nap in front of the telly.

[B]

But then there's this thing that sometimes happens where you're on the couch and you're nodding off in front of the TV and you're like, okay, fine, drag yourself off to bed. And then you're lying there wide awake. Is there something to do with blue light in that equation?

[D]

Well, yes, there could. So there's two or three reasons for that. One is you've satisfied your sleep pressure, you've taken the pressure off falling asleep. Second reason is that you've gone into a deep sleep for a longer period of time. Your sleep cycle has come up and you're not ready fall asleep again. Because falling asleep is like surfing. It comes in waves and you've missed the wave. And the third reason is possibly blue light, which affects your melatonin secretion. And melatonin is what sends you off to sleep.

[B]

So sleep pressure is sort of a combination of you've been awake for a long time, you have this digestion component as well. What else feeds into it?

[D]

Well, there is a side effect of sleep pressure rather than what feeds into it, which is the effect on your metabolism. And there is some evidence that when sleep wake cycles are disturbed and blue light exposure is part of that, is that your insulin metabolism, for example, your stress hormones, in other words, how your metabolism is balanced can get thrown out by blue light and other screen exposure late at night.

[B]

Okay, so. But in Muriel's question, she's saying, I watch like an hour of tv. I watch gardening Australia. Norman, I know that you love a binge, love a Binge watch. You talked about binging adolescence. You talked about binging baby reindeer. Don't say I don't listen what you say.

[D]

And I'd love to binge watch Slow Horses, but in fact they only eke it out one episode a week, so you can't do that.

[B]

I want to binge watch the Diplomat. Have you watched that?

[D]

I am. And I'm rationing it out at the moment.

[B]

Me too. But what does binge watching do to our brain and our sleep environment?

[D]

Well, we find a paper on this because binge watching becomes so prevalent. So they studied 423 people aged between 18 and 25 and what they measured was their binge viewing, sleep quality, fatigue, insomnia and pre sleep arousal. In other words, your sympathetic nervous system before you went to sleep. So about 80% of the sample identified themselves as binge viewers. And what they found was that amongst the poor sleepers there was a very high rate of being a binge viewer. So there was a relationship between poor sleep among the poor sleepers and binge viewing. Well, is that a surprise? You're probably getting to bed at 1 o' clock and your mind is buzzing. And then they, unsurprisingly, they had increased fertil and more symptoms of insomnia, whereas regular television viewing was not.

[B]

Okay, so I'm gonna ask about correlation causation here because I wonder if you are someone who finds it hard to sleep, then you're like, oh, screw it, I'm just gonna watch all of these. Well, that would perhaps.

[D]

Well, in my case that would involve turning on the telly at 3 o' clock in the morning when I wake up rather than when I go to sleep? That's my issue. Which is for another watch that rash. No, I don't. Binge viewing is just television addiction. You get addicted to the story and it's like a good novel. You just want to turn the page and find out what happen.

[B]

I actually do the same thing with books. The amount of sleep I've lost by just wanting to finish just one more chapter. Yeah, it's not just TV that's a culprit here.

[D]

And they blame what they call cognitive pre sleep arousal for all these problems with binge viewing, which I think most listeners to watch that rash could have guessed before we even talked about the study.

[B]

Well, so coming back to Muriel's question, how worried should she be about falling asleep in front of the TV if it's not something she wants to do? If she wants to be able to appreciate every single minute of Costa. What can she do about it?

[D]

I think she should turn on Costa on ABC Iview on a Sunday morning when she's up and bright and bushy tailed rather than after a big meal.

[B]

Any other tips?

[D]

Not worry about it, just go with the flow. Okay.

[B]

Well Muriel, thank you so much for the email. I hope you managed to find some way of enjoying Gardening Australia without nodding off in front of the tv. If you've got a question you want us to try having a go at answering, you can email us that. Rashbc.netau so what's in our meal bag? So a couple of, well, quite a few messages Norman, about acupuncture, which is what we spoke and dry needling which we spoke about last week. It was such a tricky thing to talk about because we had. We were talking a lot about the evidence base for acupuncture and dry needling and some studies when they're measuring acupuncture against a control, they call it sham acupuncture. Anyway, Natasha emailed in saying calling sham acupuncture just dry needling is not in some studies they still follow the meridians of traditional acupuncture but very shallowly more shallow than even shallow dry needling pointing out that there's lots of different sham approaches so it's very hard to generalise.

[D]

Thanks Natasha for that.

[B]

Penny said me Tegan mentioned that she burst into tears after the needle went in which yes I did. Penny said the same thing happened to me nearly 30 years ago. She was an early adopter. It wasn't the pain cause it's discomfort rather than pain And Penny says the practition at all surprised and said it was an expulsion of excess yin. So a good thing to get back in balance. I must have had a lot of yin on board that day.

[D]

Norman, I'm glad you got it out, changed your life.

[B]

And Amanda has messaged in very dim on the idea of acupuncture. Went to her GP for ankle pain. He said he would do acupuncture. He put the needles in and had me sitting in another room, writes Angela, for about 20 minutes. I said that sounded very restful. My kids were little at the time and I would read a magazine while I was there. He said no no, no, don't read a magazine. Just sit in the room and think about getting better. Amanda says I've never had a doctor give me an antibiotic or a vaccine or a contraceptive or an anti inflammatory or any other kind of medicine and then tell me that in order for it to work I would have to think nice thoughts about it. That doesn't sound like medicine or any other sort of science to me, she says.

[D]

It sounds like magic. And when I look up acupuncture in Wikipedia, the opening line of the article is acupuncture is a pseudo science.

[B]

I'm conflicted here because we spent a lot of time last week talking about the evidence for and against, and I was sort of surprised to feel like I kind of came down on the side of there's actually some evidence there that it is effective, even if you can't necessarily describe the pathway.

[D]

And it might well depend on the pain. If Amanda had just gone over on her ankle and the ankle was very sore and there was no fracture there, that might be too much to deal with in terms of needling versus having a pulled muscle, which is just bothering you after a week or so and you've got some knots in your muscles, some trigger points. I mean, this is a very complicated story. And if you want to hear more about our perception of pain, you can go to our sister podcast, the Health Report, where we looked at the concept of chronic pain and how you deal with it in detail.

[B]

Well, you can email us your feedback thatrashbc.net au and Norman, we've missed an important anniversary. We thought today we were going to be celebrating our 100th episode of what's that Rash? But as it turns out, we're at episode 103.

[D]

We missed it.

[B]

So happy anniversary of this.

[D]

We can't go back on that one.

[B]

Thank you for listening to us for up to 103 episodes. If you've been with us since the beginning, and it seems only right, Norman, to mention a recurring theme of what's that Rash? Has been that you some time ago now mentioned your tiramisu recipe and how great it was. And we have had so many emails from people ever since then requesting the recipe. You first mentioned this tiramisu recipe on the 20th of March, 2024, and someone literally messaged us on Sunday asking for it. This is how. This is the long tail of your tiramisu recipe.

[D]

But you know, your falafel recipe's, you know, catching up.

[B]

Oh, you're very kind. My falafel recipe, I think a little bit more in keeping with the theme of what's that Rash? Let's be real, it's a part of the Mediterranean diet. Unlike tiramisu. I guess tiramisu is technically Mediterranean in extraction.

[D]

I could put chickpeas in it. Maybe I'LL have a look at it.

[B]

So, yeah, a third of what you've gotten for your tiramisu. I guess that means our audience still has more to learn about healthy eating.

[D]

Sorry if I'm working against population health here, but, you know, tiramisu is so nice.

[B]

Well, thank you for joining us to listen to us. We'll be back again here next week.

[D]

For the 104th episode.

[B]

See you then.

[D]

Sam.