Reverse insomnia: how to stop sleeping in movies?

The habit of watching movies at night can make you want to “take a nap” or even, on the contrary, even cause you to lose sleep, depending on the time of exposure to screens. But stop sleeping on movies watched at later times is the desire of many of those who only have the night free for leisure.

In order not to fall asleep, people usually resort to drinking or eating snacks. However, this way of staying awake during the movies can ruin your plans if the idea is to see until the final minutes of the credits. After all, it is very important to know how much you want to attend. Combating reverse insomnia differs if you want to relax by watching Aftersun (2022) or embark on a fantastic (and giant) plot like Avatar 2 (2022). Check out the methods!

Ditch the beer to stop sleeping in the movies

Beer lovers will have to put aside the cans and bottles at the bottom of the fridge to stop sleeping enjoying that romantic comedy. That's what a professor of psychiatry at the University of San Francisco, California (USA): Drinking alcohol while watching a movie at night means staying still. Therefore, the chance of falling asleep increases, unless it is a work that draws a lot of attention, such as Everything Everywhere at the Same Time (2022)

Choose the right food for the occasion

Another tip for intake is to choose food appropriate for the occasion. So no greasy pizzas or that huge sandwich. To keep your eyes wide open while watching your favorite movie, prefer smaller foods, like some snacks, biscuits (or crackers, you decide), even a good cold cuts board. It is worth remembering that here it is good to adopt a little moderation in the selection of home cinema food to combat reverse insomnia.

Your body has a relaxation response that can kick in after eating a heavy meal.

Brittney Jones, Psychologist and Insomnia Specialist at DrLullaby

Food choices when watching movies at night need attention, as does the amount and quality of sleep you get each day. If you're getting little sleep, hormones that control satiety, like leptin, decrease. This gives room for ghrelin to increase, triggering even more cravings and making you less able to control your urges. In other words, you might be even more tempted to eat that leftover cake in the fridge.

Keeping track close can help.

A tip that works to get the body on alert is to take a few breaks. However, it is not enough just to press the button pause from the remote. In addition to going to the bathroom, staying awake during movies requires you to put the movie on pause, go to the kitchen, grab some popcorn, make sure you turn off the faucet properly or have any lights on in the house. Intervals, then, function to stay awake during the night.

If you're one of those people who doesn't like to get off the couch for a walk, then it's worth at least checking out something on your cell phone that keeps you on your toes. Yes, it's good to stop the film for a moment and check out, for example, those emails that you forgot to mark as read in your inbox.

Your couch or your bed is making you sleep

Stopping sleeping while watching a movie on TV can involve the comfort of your couch. The reason is very simple: your brain can understand that that place is the ideal point to lower activity and “switch off”. This becomes even more evident when it comes to your bed, especially if you have problems organizing your sleep schedule. What happens is that watching movies at night in bed can leave your brain lost as to what to do when you're lying in bed.

Not only is it important to consider the environment in which you will enjoy your cinema night, but it is also important to ensure that you've been sleeping with some stability. That is, having few hours of sleep in previous days can make it more difficult to keep your eyes open until late. If you can plan ahead, a good strategy is to get a good night's sleep the day before.

Melatonin: the sleep hormone or enemy of late night cinema

The brain is the organ responsible for releasing melatonin in your body when you need to sleep. It turns out that the organism limits the production of the substance if there is something that keeps attention. An example are the movies you might be watching at night, but that goes for that weekend trip too.eed do TikTok after midnight, for example.

At both times, you're getting enough bright light to knock your body clock down. This system helps the human body to have certain schedules to release hormones or to control metabolism. A study of health foundation They are made a discovery about this: five nights of exposure to bright screens can reduce the functioning of this clock by at least an hour and a half, in the same proportion of contact with light from the devices.

It's complicated to warn about the use of screens before going to sleep, since we are increasingly required to carry out tasks using Gadgets. When we think about reading just one more chapter, we can end up reading three or four, or when we're watching that movie, suddenly the urge to rewatch an episode arises. The Office, for example. And this can cause even more occurrences of reverse insomnia.

Whatever action you take to control your eyes and not miss out on movie night, you need to motivate your body to stay alert. With practice, you can avoid falling asleep. and even binge watch your favorite series.

See also:

Where to watch Oscar 2023 movies (in Brazil).

Sources: AAST | Wired | RisesScience

Text proofread by: iris xavier.