Maybe you have heard the expression “There is no free lunch”, well please, add to that, “There is no free TV time”. To be more specific, if you fall asleep in front of your TV, you might pay with your health.

The chart shown below is the oxygen level reading of a real person, a 56 year-old male, over a 24 hour period of time. He holds a responsible job and is reasonably healthy, except for increasing fatigue. He attributes his fatigue to stress at work and at home. The vertical axis reflects the percent oxygen level in the blood. Normal oxygen levels are between 90% and 100%. The horizontal line reflects the hours of the day and night of this 24-hour monitoring. Pay close attention to the sudden and very significant drop in oxygen between 10 and 11 pm. If the drop of oxygen is greater then 5-7%, doctors begin to be concerned. This patient had almost a 30% drop in oxygen saturation during that short period of time.

What might be shocking is that during this time (10-11pm) the patient fell asleep in front of the TV on his sofa, in an uncomfortable position no less. Why did he have such a significant drop of oxygen during this “relaxing” nap in front of the TV?

The follow-up sleep test demonstrated that this person has obstructive sleep apneas with heart arrhythmias. Apneas could be triggered by sleeping in an uncomfortable position and fragmented sleep due to sound and light stimulations from the TV. This person has a choice – either forget sleeping in front of TV or … have a stroke.

Guess what? This patient refused treatment because during the day he felt fine and general medical tests were reasonably normal. The year after this recording was completed the patient had a mild stroke in his sleep. Thankfully, he is well now and hopefully learned his lesson.

We want you to learn his lesson too:

Do Not Sleep In front of TV! Deal?