Sorry that this is such a random question, but I have heard many bad things about sleeping with the TV on. The thing is, I’m 19, and probably for the past 10-12 years I have slept with the TV on. It can’t even be a random channel left on... I can only go to sleep if it’s a lighthearted/colorful channel like Disney or the food channel.

I tried to go to sleep without my TV on and the thing is I can go to sleep rather fast. The problem is every single night I go to sleep without my TV on, I get bad nightmares. I end up dreaming in black and white and I always see scary images that wake me up. I also wake up several times when I don’t have nightmares in the night and get really dehydrated. I actually tried going a month without the TV and it was the worst month of sleep I’ve ever gotten.

I tried using noise machines and night lights to soothe me, but the only thing that lets me peacefully sleep is the TV.

I want to sleep without the TV on because it’s kind of embarrassing watching the Disney channel at 19 to sleep but I’m so tired of having persistent nightmares. Is there any solution to this problem?