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Life Guide U.S. essentials
English

Go to sleep on time; don't stay up for games, short videos or pornography

  • High value
  • Evidence B
  • Saves time
  • Disputed
  • Free
  • Takes minutes
  • Long-term effort

In plain words

In 2025, people in China slept an average of 6.97 hours a night and fell asleep at 0:10 on average. People who use a phone or tablet before bed have more than twice the chance of not getting enough sleep, and 2.7 times the chance of daytime drowsiness. If the device is merely kept in the bedroom unused, the numbers are about the same. So the easiest approach is to keep the phone out of the bedroom.

Cost

Free. The hard part is resisting the pull of “one more episode” over the long term. Keeping the phone out of the bedroom takes the least effort.

What you get

In 2025, Chinese residents slept an average of 6.97 hours at night and fell asleep at 0:10 on average (China Sleep Research Society, 中国睡眠研究会). People who used portable devices before bed had about 2.17 times the odds of not getting enough sleep (OR 2.17). Poor sleep quality was about 1.46 times (OR 1.46). Daytime drowsiness was about 2.72 times (OR 2.72). If the device was only kept in the bedroom and not used, the numbers were about the same, about 1.79, 1.53 and 2.27 times (OR 1.79/1.53/2.27). This part pooled 20 cross-sectional surveys (taken at a single point in time) covering 125198 children and teenagers. Another cross-sectional survey of 844 adults aged 18 to 94 found that people who kept using their phones after the lights were out fell asleep more slowly, spent a smaller share of their time in bed actually asleep, and were more tired during the day.

Notes

Disputed. For the cost of staying up itself, see §3.3 (sleep 7 to 8 hours a night). On what pornography does to an ordinary person's energy and mental capacity, there is no reliable evidence that can say whether it is the cause. One pooled analysis of several studies concluded that the so-called “pornography problem” comes more from a mismatch between a person's beliefs and his own behavior than from the content itself. Another study pooled data from 280 men. The result was that time spent watching had no relationship to erectile function during sex with a partner. This item concerns only how it eats into sleep time. The two numbers 6.97 hours and 0:10 have no press release posted on the China Sleep Research Society's official website (checked September 2026); we rely on the Health News (健康报) report reprinted by the Fujian Provincial Health Commission (福建省卫健委).

Evidence grade
B : Supported by research but without a precise number, or based on small or single studies.
Sources
  1. Carter et al. (2016). Association Between Portable Screen-Based Media Device Access or Use and Sleep Outcomes. JAMA Pediatrics. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2016.2341
  2. Exelmans & Van den Bulck (2016). Bedtime mobile phone use and sleep in adults. Social Science & Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.11.037
  3. 中国睡眠研究会 (2026). 2026 中国睡眠健康研究白皮书（福建省卫健委转载健康报报道）. https://wjw.fujian.gov.cn/jggk/csxx/xcc/mtbd/202603/t20260323_7114382.htm
  4. Grubbs JB 等 (2018). Pornography Problems Due to Moral Incongruence: An Integrative Model with a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Archives of Sexual Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-018-1248-x（备注里的争议方之一）
  5. Prause N, Pfaus J (2015). Viewing Sexual Stimuli Associated with Greater Sexual Responsiveness, Not Erectile Dysfunction. Sexual Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1002/sm2.58（备注里的争议方之二）

Mentioned in

Translated from the Chinese original. Original book, section 3, tip 9. Content may be out of date and rules differ by place. When you actually deal with an agency, a doctor or a court, follow what local officials, doctors and lawyers tell you. Disclaimer