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Lifestyle, Not Screens, Drives Sleep Problems

Experts say the broader issue lies in daily light exposure patterns. To maintain healthy sleep, the body needs strong light signals during the day and reduced exposure at night.

My experiment reflected this principle. Each morning, I sat close to a high-intensity light lamp designed to treat seasonal depression, exposing myself to bright, blue-rich light early in the day. The experience was unpleasant but reinforced a key concept.

"The more light that you get during the daytime, the less impact the light in the evening has," Zeitzer says.

Modern routines often limit daytime light exposure. Remote work, indoor lifestyles and reduced commuting mean many people experience similar lighting conditions from morning to night, blurring the distinction between day and evening for the body’s internal clock.

Outdoor light remains far more powerful than indoor sources. Even on cloudy days, natural light far exceeds typical indoor lighting levels. A short morning walk can help regulate circadian rhythms, while additional afternoon exposure may further stabilize sleep patterns.

"Go outside if you can, use the lamp if you have to," says Håvard Kallestad, director of the sleep and chronobiology research group at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

Another recommendation is to increase lighting during the day and gradually dim it in the evening. Creating contrast between day and night conditions appears to be more important than eliminating blue light entirely.

Behavior Matters More Than Light

While screens may play a role, experts argue their impact is often indirect. The activities people engage in before bed — such as scrolling social media or consuming stimulating content — may be more disruptive than the light itself.

"It is much more the content, rather than the light, that is keeping people awake from these devices," Zeitzer says.

Individual sensitivity to light also varies, meaning some people may be more affected than others.

Subtle Gains From Extreme Measures

Using a sleep tracker, I monitored the effects of my blue-light-free routine. Overall sleep duration remained largely unchanged, but I noticed improved consistency in when I fell asleep and woke up. By the second week, going to bed felt easier, though it is unclear whether this was due to reduced blue light or the structured routine itself.

The ritual of dimming lights and using candles may have played a psychological role.

When something "becomes part of the pre-bed process, it can act as a very strong psychological cue to help remind your body of what you're supposed to be doing next", Zeitzer says.

Similarly, device features that shift screen color at night may work less through biological effects and more by signaling bedtime.

"It doesn't really work that well, but the one thing that it can do is that when you have one of these filters, or if you wear blue blocking glasses in the evening, is that acts as kind of like a Pavlovian conditioning cue for some people. When the screen colour changes, or you put on your glasses, your brain starts to understand it is time to get ready for bed."