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According to a new study by the University of Freiburg in the journal “Sleep Medicine”, the series marathon before falling asleep has no effect on sleep – as long as the series does not end with a cliffhanger (open ending). And even then, the consequences for sleep are minimal.
“We were very surprised by the results,” said study leader Björn Rasch when asked by the Keystone-SDA news agency. Excitement is actually associated with more sleeping difficulties, a longer time falling asleep or problems sleeping through the night.
Take small breaks
The study shows that binge-watching, i.e. watching many episodes of a suspenseful series one after the other, before going to bed increases the feeling of stress. The physiological arousal symptoms such as accelerated heart rhythm or an increase in cortisol levels, on the other hand, were only observed if the series ended with a cliffhanger – i.e. at the climax of the action.
“After a cliffhanger, the time that study participants spent in deep sleep decreased,” Rasch explained. This effect was particularly pronounced in the first two sleep phases (around three hours). “But we had expected a stronger effect.”
For a good night’s sleep, the sleep researchers therefore recommend simply stopping a series before the cliffhanger or taking a short break between watching and sleeping.
Source: Nachrichten
