Objective: To explore the effects of different screen content on the nighttime sleep quality of college students based on screen time 1 h before bedtime, so as to provide a basis for healthy sleep habits. Methods: From March 1 to 15, 2024, 40 college students were recruited from Capital Institute of Physical Education through student social media groups or recruitment posters, and were randomly assigned to TV/movie streaming group ( n =10), video game group ( n =10), online surfing/social networking group ( n =10), sleep aid video group ( n =10) by single blind randomized experimental design. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire Short Form (IPAQ-SF), Self rating Depression Scale (SDS) and Self rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) were used to measure the physical activity and emotional state levels of college students before the experiment. In the 5 day experiment, participants watched different screen content 1 h before sleep, then Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), sleep duration,sleep latency and wake up time were collected before and after the intervention. A paired sample t-test was used to compare the differences within groups before and after the intervention, and one way analysis of variance was used for horizontal comparison between groups. Results: In the longitudinal within group comparisons before and after the intervention, there was an increase in PSQI scores in the TV/movie strearming (5.40±0.70, 6.30±0.67) and online surfing/social networking (5.50± 0.97 , 6.20±0.63) groups ( t=-3.86, -2.33 , P <0.05) and the sleep aid video group (5.80±0.92, 4.90±0.74) with a decrease in PSQI scores ( t=3.25, P <0.05), and the difference in PSQI scores in the video game group (5.60±0.84, 5.80±0.79) was not statistically significant ( t=-0.69, P > 0.05 ). In the post intervention cross sectional comparison between groups, the sleep aid video group had better PSQI scores ( 4.90± 0.74; 6.30±0.67, 5.80±0.79, 6.20±0.63), sleep latency (0:25±0.24 h, 1:31±0.36 h, 00:56 ±0.56 h, 01:22±0.54 h) and sleep efficiency[(81.83±5.40)%; (72.60±5.00)%, (75.50±4.43)%, (74.80±5.20)%] than the other 3 groups ( F =8.00, 6.61, 19.00 ) and better sleep duration than the TV/movie strearming group and the online surfing/social networking group [(7.30±0.68) (6.20±0.26) (6.36±0.64)h] ( F =6.61) ( P <0.01). Conclusions Bedtime screen use with different screen contents affects sleep quality differently. The screen content of TV/movie streaming and online surfing/socialising reduced sleep quality, whereas watching sleep aiding videos may improve sleep quality, while playing video games shows no effects on sleep quality.