[stinos]

Because in my opinion (solely based on intuition and vague memories of things read in scientific articles on the matter), as a solution for sleep problems, it's still inferior to just turning them off.

I know he mentions books in the articles but put them away because they either were either too exciting or too boring. To me that sounds like not having tried hard enough. As I said: replacing such nightly habit with another one isn't easy.

[the_watcher]

As someone who suffers from the same kinds of sleep issues he does (especially his point about letting his brain unwind with old TV shows), I think it's much more important to find something that works without you having to fight hard for it (at least at first, maybe if now he starts slowly replacing some of his devices with books, etc. he'll have more success).

I've found success with a formula much more like yours (no blue light for an hour before bed unless absolutely necessary). I understand what he means about books being too exciting or boring too. What I've done is what he does with TV: I reread books (I also lean towards very simple to read books). Just this year I've done Liar's Poker, Moneyball, The Hobbit, and am working my way through the original Bourne series.

[eli]

I'm not sure I get why reading a book is so much worse than a reading on an iPad. You mean because of the backlit screen?

[the_watcher]

Blue light. It's the whole reason f.lux and blue light filters exist, and why the Kindle Paperwhite is such an amazing device: front-lit with no blue light.