This post will be a short one inspired by the spooky season, the shorter hours of daylight, and – gasp! – the night we set the clocks back is just around the corner already.
By now, most of us have heard the benefits of sunlight, especially in the early morning to set our circadian rhythm. Put simply, viewing bright light, ideally sunlight, upon rising sets a countdown timer inside us that steers us toward bedtime
But have you heard about the benefits of DARKNESS!? Cue the thunder and spooky music.
In the same way that our bodies require light to signal daytime energy, darkness signals the body that it is time for sleep. This is part of the reason why grey, rainy days make it difficult to keep our eyes open.
Beyond that, we need total darkness in the bedroom for our bodies to fully rest and sleep deeply. In the same way that ambient noise can prevent us from getting optimal sleep, the ambient light from your electronics or streetlights streaming in your window tells your body that you should stay awake.
Tips to Embrace Darkness
- 90 minutes before bed, dim the lights
- Set your lights on timers. I actually don’t have mine on timers, but I have a smart outlet so I can turn the lights on and off by voice command.
- Set a bed time alarm. You set an alarm to wake you up, why not set an alarm to tell you to get ready for bed?
- Favor table lamps and warm-toned light bulbs. Yellow, red and orange reading lights have become popular for good reason: bright and cool toned lights can keep us perky when we need to be sleepy.
- Use black electrical tape over the lights from your electronics
- An eye mask goes a long way to seal out darkness. My personal preference is actually to use a black scarf or other piece of dark fabric.
- If you have a variable schedule or work shift, please use your brain to modify these tips for yourself. I believe in you!
A final thought on screen time
We have all know that we shouldn’t use phones or screens before bed, but in my experience this abstinence-only approach, while great in theory, does not work in practice. Instead, I coach my clients on screen time management. Dim the screen on your phone and change the colour setting to warm tones or night/dark mode. If you are going to be using screens before bed, stick to content that is not emotionally charged. So please avoid doomscrolling and fighting with strangers in the comment section. If you love your phone, you could try a journal app or something else to wind down before bed. And for the love of sleep turn off that flashing notification light!
ZenwithGwen 