For many children, bedtime stories are an important part of their evening routine. If you’re a parent, there’s a good chance you’ll be reading to your kids before the lights go out. As adults, you may still have a book on your nightstand, but it has now become a prop. Most of us are more likely to scroll than read.
In fact, 50% of American adults report that they use a screen (such as their phone, tablet, or TV) in bed every day. According to a new survey conducted by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, another surveyMattress and bedding company Amerisleep found that 85% of US adults use their phones before bed, scrolling for an average of 38 minutes.
You probably already know that using your phone before sleeping is a bad habit. Talk to any sleep obsessive and they’ll tell you to get your phone out of the bedroom and a good old book before bed. But according to the sleep doctors we spoke to, there’s a right way to read before bed and a wrong way to do so.
Why is reading before bed better than scrolling?
Screens have long been seen as the enemy of good sleep, primarily because of the melatonin-destroying blue light they emit. But this is 2026. All phones and tablets now have a setting to turn off blue light. And every podcaster you know is praising the dark blue-light glasses they wear before bed. So why can’t you take a break from your phone before bed?
“Reading is your brain’s way of saying goodnight, but scrolling actually wakes the brain up,” says Paul Muchowski, PhDA neuroscientist, sleep expert and founder defined sleep. He explains that even though scrolling and reading seem similar, they affect the brain very differently. sleep medicine doctor domingo rodríguez-que, md He agrees, explaining, “Reading calms the brain, but scrolling — especially on social media — makes the brain more alert because the content is more engaging and less predictable.”
Dr. Rodriguez-Q explains that reading follows a pattern of predictability, in the sense that your eyes are constantly moving from left to right down the page. This predictability activates the parasympathetic nervous system, leading to a feeling of greater relaxation. But he says reading the news on your phone or scrolling through social media can activate the fight-or-flight response — even if the content you’re consuming isn’t particularly stressful. As well as activating the fight-or-flight response, he says scrolling social media releases dopamine in the brain, which stimulates the nervous system. The combined effect is the exact opposite of what you want before bed.
Sleep doctors also point out that there are natural places to pause in books (specifically, the end of chapters), but not on social media apps, which is another reason why reading for sleep is better than scrolling.
How to Use Reading Before Bedtime to Improve Your Sleep
Even without taking into account the blue light of screens, it’s clear that reading a book is more sleep-supportive than scrolling on your phone. But what you are reading and what environment you are in also matters. Here are five tips for how to use reading as a boon for your sleep, straight from sleep doctors.
1. Make it a habit
As Dr. Rodriguez-Q explained, a major reason that reading activates the parasympathetic nervous system is that the act of reading is predictable. The brain likes predictability; This is why man works best by adopting a routine. For this reason, he says that the more you make a habit of reading before bed, the more your brain will pick up on the signal that you’re powering off for the day and it will support your sleep. Like many things in life, the more you do it, the better it works.
