ItÕs official Ð Americans spend more time watching television than sleeping.  Or so declares the latest Nielsen survey.  According to the company, Americans are ÒobservingÓ television eight hours and eighteen minutes per day on average, the highest amount ever, while most surveys place Americans spending less than seven hours asleep in bed.  Do we prefer TV to sleep?

         The answer is yes.  Most Americans think of rest in two forms Ð sitting in front of the TV or sleeping, and most prefer the former.  The Nielsen numbers are inflated.  Most of their data does not consider how much time people watch a program versus just keeping the machine on. TVÕs daily take is still a lot of hours.

         Is increasing television use cause for celebration?  No.   Here are some reasons why.

TV and Exhaustion

         One prime reason people watch TV is exhaustion.  In different cultures, particularly in developed countries, TV use correlates well with how fatigued and stressed people feel.  In Japan, where there is a special word for working oneself to death, itself a ÒcompensableÓ insurance event, TV use moves up with employeesÕ increasing mental and physical exhaustion.

         Americans often Òchill outÓ in front of the TV.  At times of stress, fear, confusion and fatigue, TV is our national friend, particularly at night.

Night Time TV

         Many people watch television right before they go to sleep.  Many watch the news, while others discover they want to  Òkeep on watchingÓ into the night.

         Unfortunately, watching nighttime TV can cause poor sleep.  First, the more people watch they less time they apportion to sleep. Less sleep increases our national sleep debt, making for an increasingly fatter, slower, atherosclerotic, cranky, and debilitated population.  Besides, learning which of your neighbors was whacked the night before or how many killer hurricanes are expected next season, even just watching your favorite football team lose on Monday night, does not lead to the calm required to begin a healthful night of sleep.

         And donÕt forget whatÕs showing on nighttime TV.  The FCC long ago gave up acting as watchdog of the airwaves, where licenses were given out for Òthe public benefit.Ó  TV is about making money.  To make money you need peopleÕs eyeballs open.  The first purpose of TV is to keep you awake.

         Nighttime performs this trick nicely, with highly varied visual and auditory stimulation.  Notice how loud the commercials are between late night programs?   Much nighttime programming involves jump cuts, loud music, and rapidly shifting ÒvisualsÓ that keep a sleepy population watching till the next commercial.

Light, Biological Clocks, and Sleep

         Humans and all other terrestrial animals evolved with sunlight and moonlight, night and day.  Our internal twenty-four rhythms time our life, particularly our mood and alertness, and are intensely responsive to sunlight, especially around dawn.  Light resets our biological clocks.

         We did not evolve with electric lights, and TV produces a peculiar blend of light and radiation.  Since our sense of sleepiness is profoundly affected by light, the light from TV automatically keeps us up at night.  Late night-light also has the biological clock effect of making us go to bed later, and get up later.

         The end result Ð nighttime TV physiologically cuts back on our sleep time, making us want both to go to bed and get up later, a perfect combination for sleep deprivation.

TV and Rest

         Many Americans turn to TV as a way to rest, but there are many effective types of rest.  TV does provide a kind of physical rest, but as a form of social rest, mental rest, or spiritual rest, itÕs generally deficient.

         It can provide those functions.  At times of crisis, broadcasters less concerned with ratings and profiting from disaster could provide solace and national catharsis.  Educational, entertaining programs can provide mental rest.  Spiritual rest can arrive in innumerable forms ranging from religious services to nature and science shows, programs that mark our place as part of a larger, more interesting universe.

         However, to function effectively, we need physical rest, mental rest, social rest, and spiritual rest, and our major form of physical rest is sleep.  Most sleep researchers argue at least an hour of downtime before bed is needed to get a good nightsÕ sleep.  That downtime can include reading articles like this one; yoga and meditation; putting out tomorrowÕs clothes; physically engaging and enjoying oneÕs partner; and relaxation exercises.  Rest is restoration. We need far more types of rest than sitting in front of the TV.

         Yet as the economic crisis deepens expect more and more of us to watch TV, especially at night.  ItÕs just another signal of national exhaustion.  Learning how to rest can do more than make us feel alert and alive Ð it might even aid national renewal.

Dr. Matthew Edlund practices sleep medicine and psychiatry in Sarasota.  His new book, Designed To Last, is available online. He can be reached at 365-4308 and via his Web site at doctoredlund.com.