You might think the rise of video-streaming services would be keeping us awake later at night.
But, in reality, the likes of Netflix are sending us to bed 20 minutes earlier compared with 20 years ago.
The lights now go off at 10.14pm on average, a study of adults’ behaviour has revealed. In 2003, bedtime tended to be at 10.36pm.
And 18 to 29-year-olds – who people perceive to be glued to their screens the most – hit the hay even sooner at 9.42pm.
Audiences can now watch their favourite TV shows and films at any time of the day thanks to the likes of Apple TV and Prime Video.
This lack of staying up late for specific broadcasts could explain the earlier bedtimes, the researchers from the University of Kansas claim.
They added: ‘Our findings support the possibility that in the era of online video streaming, people are more able to schedule their viewing at times facilitating healthy sleep schedules.
‘They show that earlier TV viewing cessation accounted for earlier bedtimes observed in the streaming era.’
Streaming services like Netflix are sending us to bed 20 minutes earlier compared with 20 years ago
The lights now go off at 10.14pm on average, a study of adults’ behaviour has revealed, compared to 10.36pm in 2003
TV habits have changed dramatically over the past 20 years – it has become increasingly common to watch ‘on demand’ rather than tuning in when a show is broadcast.
The BBC launched its iPlayer service in 2007 – the same year Netflix launched in the US – and ITV followed suit in 2008. Netflix is now estimated to have more than 17million UK subscribers.
About 200,000 adults were quizzed for the study on their bedtime and TV habits and how they had changed.
The results, published in the Social Science & Medicine journal, show most people go to bed significantly earlier than in 2003.
Screens are turned off between 15 and 30 minutes earlier in those aged below 65 – who are more likely to use streaming services than pensioners.
But among over-65s, who tend to still watch live broadcasts, the researchers found their habits had not changed.
‘The magnitude of these shifts was particularly large among adults aged 18 to 29, who have stopped watching TV roughly half an hour earlier on weekdays and 27 minutes earlier on weekends and holidays compared to 2003,’ they said.
