For a long time, I couldn’t sleep. There was nothing particularly unique to my problem, it just happened that come night time, more often than not I’d lay awake staring at the ceiling dwelling on my life. When this exhausted itself enough to provide boredom but no real rest, I’d scroll endlessly on my phone. This problem lasted for years.
Now I can look back retroactively on those times as I’ve had a relatively healthy sleep schedule for the past three to four years. I average seven to eight hours a night, which is significantly better than what used to be four or five hours. Once, I remember finally falling asleep in the late morning, only to be awoken for the day four minutes later. I don’t know how I functioned back then.
It wasn’t melatonin or counting sheep or specific sound frequencies that aided me in my rest. The solution was much simpler: turning the TV on. It sounds counterproductive, and there isn’t any science backing up the merits of this practice, but for me it did wonders.
Claudia Rankine proposes in her fantastic book Don’t Let Me Be Lonely: An American Lyric that: “In the night I watch television to help me fall asleep, or I watch television because I cannot sleep… Eventually it is all a blur.” For me, the TV as a lullaby was a complete accident I discovered because, like Rankine, I couldn’t sleep and I soon realized the sedative qualities of sitcoms.
In general, I’ll sleep much easier so long as something is playing in the background, whether that be the news, a documentary, or a Youtube video. Above all, though, my personal preference is for NBC’s legendary sitcom Frasier, and that’s been my go to when I need to unwind at the end of the day for years now.
Most nights I wake up around 5 a.m. to the great, but blaring, theme song to Cheers and clamor to turn the TV off and get back to sleep. In contrast, Frasier omits a theme altogether, the live studio audience reigns superior over unusually loud laugh tracks in other shows, and above all it’s just a comfort to watch. The series ended over 20 years ago. I was never alive when it originally aired, but it reminds me of my childhood nonetheless. It creates such a peaceful atmosphere to sleep in. Plus, it’s a fantastic show, truly one of the best sitcoms in my opinion. In the beginning, I would attempt to stay awake for hours, riveted by the storylines. In this regard it wasn’t helping me sleep, rather being how Rankine described, entertainment due to the fact that I could not sleep.
I found I preferred the simple act of staring at the show to scrolling and tapping on my phone. Eventually I got to a point where I had seen every episode, and these days I cherish them all, some more than others, but I know how they’ll all end. There are no surprises anymore. This means it takes much less viewing for me to get to sleep; there are personal favorites that keep me up just because I want to laugh at the jokes all over again, and I’m willing to lose a few hours of sleep to that joy over doomscrolling any day.
Above all, it is important to get at least eight hours a night, and to that end I would recommend watching reruns instead of something brand new to you, for obvious reasons. Perhaps the show shouldn’t be an absolute favorite, too. If I had something like Everybody Loves Raymond on, I would never be incentivized to stay up beyond when I probably should. That’s not to dunk on the show, it just isn’t one that means as much to me.
Again, this is all a matter of my opinion and personal experience. For some, television may be the last thing they want when trying to end the day, and I respect that. I do love the fact that in my own life, I’ve seen how bedtime has transformed from something I used to dread to a time I genuinely look forward to, all because of a silly little sitcom. At the end of the day, this is all one person’s opinion, but if you do feel inspired to turn the TV on after reading this, happy viewing!