Getting to bed on time requires self-control with the remote control

ANN ARBOR'If you created a schedule to watch television at night, chances are you're not postponing bedtime sleep. Habitual TV viewers are used to starting and quitting their evening viewing at set times, which makes them less likely to procrastinate on bedtime, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Michigan and the Leuven School for Mass Communication Research in Belgium. There is ample evidence that media use?whether it's watching TV or using a cell phone or laptop-displaces sleep. Previous research, however, has not explored how self-control plays a role in evening TV viewing. The current study finds that low self-control keeps a person from prioritizing the long-term benefits of getting a good night's rest over the short-term benefits of feeling entertained by media use. "In other words, people have trouble withstanding the media temptation unless they have self-control," said study co-author Jan Van den Bulck, U-M professor of communication studies. "The presence of media that engage us during the final hours of the day provokes an internal conflict where we weigh the benefits of media entertainment against those of going to bed on time." The central idea is that self-control is like a muscle.