That’s why you fall asleep on the sofa – but not in bed

Why can you fall asleep on the sofa in the evening after work, only to feel wide awake when you go to bed?
– When you go to bed, all thoughts appear, says sleep researcher Christian Benedict in Efter fem.

Imagine that you come home from work, lie down on the sofa and then fall asleep in the same place. Once you get into bed, it can instead feel impossible to fall asleep. Do you recognize yourself? You are not alone.

– When you lie on the sofa and watch TV, you are so relaxed. You do it mainly in the evening, a time when you should sleep, says Christian Benedict.

When you later go to bed, thoughts such as having to sleep can disturb your sleep.

– When you then go to bed, all the thoughts appear: Now I’m going to sleep and now I even have to sleep. Christian has said that I should sleep at least seven hours. It will be a bigger challenge.

“Set a timer so the TV turns off”

Although you can often feel tired and relaxed when you watch TV, you should not leave it on when you fall asleep.

– You can of course imagine that you should watch TV when you are in bed. But what you should do in any case is to set a timer so that it automatically switches off after 15 minutes when you have fallen asleep.

The sleep researcher emphasizes the importance of sleep and that you should not bring TV viewing to bed.

-Of course you should sleep in bed and watch TV when you are lying on the sofa.