If you’ve ever gotten so immersed in hitting a new high score that you blew off your bedtime, you might already think of video games as an enemy to sound sleep.
But don’t press pause just yet. While video games have been portrayed as sleep-stealers in some studies, they may offer ways to level up your slumber, too. Here’s a look at the conflicting ways video games affect sleep, from their boss-level challenges to hidden power-ups.
Does gaming before bed ruin sleep?
Even though home video game consoles have been around for more than 50 years, we still don’t fully understand their potential impact on our health. However, some surveys and studies suggest that gaming may harm our sleep under certain circumstances.
The allure of late-night gaming often leads to a battle between the desire for victory in the virtual world and the need for rejuvenation in the real one, making it difficult to go to bed on time. A survey conducted by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine on 963 people found that gamers typically delayed their bedtime by 101 minutes on nights they played video games. That’s a lot of lost sleep.
“There’s some concern that these games reduce the drive to sleep simply by engaging the brain so much that its frontal lobe doesn’t remember to put the brakes on and say, ‘It’s time for sleep,’” says Dr. Sudha Tallavajhula, neurological sleep medicine specialist at UTHealth Houston.
Playing video games at night also exposes you to blue light, which affects the body’s natural wake and sleep cycle (or circadian rhythm). Like the sunrise, blue light tells our body that it’s time to wake up and be alert — just what we need to accomplish everything we need to do during the day.
“But when it’s time to wind down, you don’t want to have that same level of exposure to blue light,” notes Dr. Khizer Khaderi, founding director of the Stanford Human Perception Lab, as well as the Stanford Vision Performance Center. He has studied how screens correlate with our visual, cognitive, and motor function.
“Whether you’re gaming, scrolling on social media, or doing other things that involve screens at night, we’re increasing our exposure to that blue light, and it could affect our internal sleep-wake cycle’s clock,” he adds.
Excessive gaming may present its own set of sleep troubles. According to a December 2021 systematic review of 12 peer-reviewed studies, adults who showed signs of gaming addiction were more likely to have shorter sleep durations, poorer sleep quality, and higher levels of daytime fatigue than more casual gamers and non-gamers.
It echoed the findings of a meta-analysis published just a few months earlier, which looked at the effects of gaming and sleep on nearly 52,000 participants. The data showed links between “problematic gaming” and poor sleep quality, short sleep duration, daytime sleepiness, and other slumber troubles.
Still, these reports should be taken with a grain of salt. The researchers note that the studies they analyzed have major limitations. Some were not able to adjust to confounding factors that may be affecting sleep. Some also used self-reported data to assess sleep quality, which usually isn’t as reliable as more objective measurements.
Furthermore, most research has focused on the sleep of excessive gamers, without closely examining the sleep of those who play video games casually.
“Saying video games are bad for sleep is way oversimplified,” notes Kelli Dunlap, a licensed clinical psychologist who holds a master’s in game design and serves as community director at Take This, a nonprofit focused on decreasing the stigma and increasing the support for mental health in the game enthusiast community.
“It ignores the individual context around sleep and what video games mean to people,” she notes.
Can video games help with sleep?
Here’s some good news for gamers: Video games may have some hidden upsides that could act like a power-up for your sleep.
For some, gaming can be a way to chill out before bed, says Dunlap. In fact, a 2014 study on 844 adults found that 10.3% used video games as a sleep aid.
“There are cozy games that are all about ‘tend and befriend,’ like planting a flower, power-washing a house, and doing things that help you regulate, de-stress, and relax,” she explains. “Lots of games have gorgeous soothing music and can help you slow down your breathing, which people might find helpful as they wind down for the night.”
Even more intense video games could be a helpful distraction from stress and anxiety that might otherwise prevent you from falling asleep. They completely immerse gamers in the virtual world, helping them temporarily forget about the pressures of their real life.
“I have a really good friend who loves horror games, and they help her manage her anxiety. If someone is staying up late playing video games because their anxiety brain gremlins are intense and they’re going to spiral if they don’t distract themselves, it makes total sense,” Dunlap notes.
There’s also something to be said about the social element of gaming for sleep. Research has found links between loneliness and insomnia symptoms, like trouble falling and staying asleep, waking up earlier than intended, and non-restorative sleep. Playing video games may offer much-needed social connections, helping reduce the likelihood of loneliness-related sleep troubles.
“Games are inherently social. Most people who play games are doing it with someone online or on the couch next to them, or even if they’re playing solo, I can pretty much guarantee that they’re talking about the game with someone else at school or work or on an internet forum,” Dunlap says.
She continues: “In an era where we’re facing so much loneliness from our productivity-focused society, those moments where we can connect with another human matter.”
Plus, playing video games may provide some psychological benefits that, in turn, potentially lead to better sleep. A 2022 systematic review found that video games could be an effective treatment for depression, which is closely linked with trouble falling asleep and staying asleep, per Johns Hopkins Medicine. In a 2021 systematic review, gaming — even in short, one-off sessions — was shown to be effective at reducing stress and anxiety, both of which can interfere with sleep.
“We’re looking for spaces where we can feel like our decisions matter, that we can control our environment, and the effort we put in is going to reflect what we get out of it. Those are fundamental human drives and needs that underpin a lot of health and wellness,” says Dunlap. “When you step into the world of a game, you do matter;, you are the reason that game exists.”
Winning strategies for playing video games before bed
More research needs to be done before we can draw any sweeping conclusions on the impact of video games on sleep — for better or for worse. However, developers have already started creating games designed with sleep in mind.
Sheep Sleep, for example, has a sleep mode that fills the screen with sheep you can count to drift off. And with Pokémon Sleep, you use your smartphone to record and measure your sleep — longer sleep leads to higher scores and gives you the chance to see your favorite Pokémon snoozing in rare styles.
Even if you want to play a regular, non-sleep- focused game, though, experts say there are things you can do to boost your chances of benefits and reduce the likelihood that it disrupts your sleep.
Stick to short intervals
Start with moderation, says Tallavajhula. “If you play for a short time every day, during the day, it’s not likely to impact your sleep,” she says.
Pay attention to the clock when playing
Limit your exposure to blue light from video games or any other type of screen at least an hour or two before bedtime, Khaderi recommends.
Track your data
Khaderi also suggests using fitness wearables to track your overall health and see how your data changes during and after gaming.
“Gaming can be a high-stress environment, depending on what games you play, so that’s why mental well-being is important,” he says. “Are you being mindful? How’s your breathing? Gamers are all about data, so in that sense, they can use wearables to help them get better sleep.” Think of it as gamifying your gaming.
Don’t be afraid to switch things up
Finally, approach your relationship with video games with non-judgmental open-mindedness to uncover clues about how it might affect your sleep, says Dunlap.
“Pay attention to what you’re playing, how it makes you feel, and how it fits into your routine,” she says. “If that’s working for you and if you can fall asleep in a way that works for your schedule and life, great.”
On the other hand, if sleep feels more elusive than usual or you’re getting stressed out by the games you’re playing before bed, that might be a sign to adjust your habits. You could try turning off the game a little earlier or switching to a game that feels more calming.
“Both sleep and games are individualized experiences — there’s no one-size-fits-all that works for everyone,” says Dunlap. “The gold standard is to bring a sense of curiosity and willingness to experiment and play with how things are to see if there’s a change you can make to improve your quality of life.”
