Does making your room completely dark help one to sleep better?
Q: I read Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar, and Survival and one of things the author recommend is making your bedroom completely dark. Has anyone tried this? Do you sleep better? Does it work?
A: There’s no doubt about the importance of a dark environment for sleeping. When we expose our bodies to lower light conditions in the evenings, sleep comes more easily due to melatonin release after the sun goes down.
There’s no doubt about the importance of a dark environment for sleeping. In the pre-electric past, people naturally got sleepy and went to bed after the sun went down.
When we have a regularly scheduled sleep pattern mixed with lower light conditions in the evenings, sleep comes more easily due to melatonin release after the sun goes down, as part of our body’s circadian rhythms.
In order to keep this process on track, it’s best to limit exposure to bright light from computer monitors, TVs, and smartphones at night, as this can delay the release of melatonin leading to staying up later.
Limiting light exposure in the morning can also help you get more sleep, as the lack of light can delay the body’s natural call to “wake up”, allowing you to get more deeper, restful sleep. Using an eyemask, or turning your bed away from the window can help limit this exposure.
For those who work evening and night shifts, it’s best to sleep in rooms with heavy curtains that block all light, as well as wear blue-blocking sunglasses on the morning drive home, in order to prevent the stimulation of the waking circadian rhythm.
Related Content:
- How does light impact our circadian rhythm?
- How can I increase my time in Deep Sleep?
- Jetlag: Is it better to take a 30-minute power nap or just push through and go to bed early?
- What can one do to promote good sleep?
Academic References:
Crowley SJ, Lee C, Tseng CY, Fogg LF, Eastman CI. Combinations of bright light, scheduled dark, sunglasses, and melatonin to facilitate circadian entrainment to night shift work. Journal of Biological Rhythms. 2003 Dec;18(6):513-23.
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