The new research by Michigan State University neuroscientists found that spending too much time in darker rooms can change your brain and make it harder to remember. And it also found bright lights can boost your more than your mood, making it easier to retain information.
Science suggests that darkness can do all kinds of things to the human body and brain: It can make us more likely to lie and cheat, make mistakes at work, and even see things we don't normally see. “Darkness is like a mirror: It shows you what you don't want to see.”
One impact of being in complete darkness is that it can wreck your sleep cycle. Two of the key mechanisms for sleep cycle regulation, the hormone melatonin and the brain's suprachiasmatic nucleus, both rely on light to function. Daylight reduces our levels of melatonin, helping us feel awake.
In fact, 150 participants were exposed to five lux of light or more, and they showed a 65% increased chance of developing depression after two years compared to those who slept in completely dark rooms. Moreover, all participants who slept with even a little light exposure had a tendency to oversleep.
A dark room cues your body that it's time to sleep, and can help you fall asleep and stay asleep more easily. It can improve your mood. If you suffer from seasonal affective disorder (SAD), sleeping in a dark room can help improve your mood.
Scientists have found that darkness creates a “startle” response in the brain, which causes it to release chemicals that heighten a person's perception of anxiety. While some people can quieten this increased anxiety, others cannot. Instead, they magnify it, creating an extreme level of fear.
Darkness has long been associated with feelings of low mood and depression is often described as feeling blue or as a dark hole.
The brain makes more serotonin when a person is exposed to sunlight. Higher levels of serotonin boost feelings of happiness and well-being. Low levels of serotonin lead to depression. Shorter days and longer hours of darkness in fall and winter may cause higher levels of melatonin and lower levels of serotonin.
Reduced sunlight can cause a drop in serotonin that may trigger depression.
Certain physical processes help to prepare the body for sleep. In response to darkness, the pineal gland begins to produce melatonin. Melatonin is a serotonin-derived hormone that promotes sleepiness.
A dark room is proven to help in the production of the sleepy hormone we love so much. Since the drive to sleep decreases during the day, darkness sends the message to the brain, and the production of melatonin can begin, thus leading to better naps and better nighttime sleep.
Natural light gives us Vitamin D:
A lack of vitamin D has also been linked to depression, obesity, and possibly even multiple sclerosis, with a gene defect resulting in vitamin D deficiency being linked to the condition.
Bright light exposure activates regions of the brain that promote alertness, and improves cognitive performance [3]. Light activates factors that are essential for memory formation [4], as well as factors that are important for the regulation of mood and overall brain health [1].
You wake up, see the sunlight and your body stops making melatonin. In the winter however, mornings are dark which means you're forcing yourself to get up in the dark while melatonin is still being produced. So you're more likely to wake up feeling sleepy and wanting to stay in bed on dark mornings.
Why it's so dark in the morning is a matter of the Earth's rotation on its axis (which is at a tilt of 23.5 degrees) around the sun.
When the lights go out, anxious thoughts may start creeping in — and the more you worry, the harder it is to fall asleep. Some people find that anxiety can be especially bothersome when it strikes at night. It can feel like your brain is going into overdrive with racing thoughts that you just can't seem to switch off.
Before this period of European history lay the Middle Ages, often called the Dark Ages, a period where common perception assumes that demonic possession, witchcraft, and superstition defined mental illness, and religion dominated study of the mind.
People who saw more than five lux of light at night were much more likely to develop symptoms of depression than those who slept in a completely dark room.
Increased feelings of depression at night could be the result of people having fewer distractions. Depression can lead to insomnia, which can increase frustration at night, further worsening the underlying depression. Treating nighttime depression usually involves treating the root cause of the depression itself.
The findings are powerful: When compared to photos of individuals who were not experiencing depression, the images posted by those with depression tended to be bluer, grayer, and darker. Additionally, people with depression were more likely to use filters—often to remove color from the photo completely.
What scientists already know is that dim light at night can affect your brain function. If you work at night, you're likely in a brightly lit environment at night. This nighttime illumination may influence the way your brain works. Because of this, it may make you more prone to changes in mood or even mood disorders.
1) Calmness
For some, it may cause fear, but for me, it can be a perfect time for meditation. Especially, when you are in the dark (more if you are alone), you don't notice anything but your own thoughts. It provides calmness. And because of calmness, I can do more things (like plotting a story).
Based on analysis of the participants' stress hormones, melatonin levels and answers to a questionnaire, working in an office without natural light was associated with poor sleep, low mood and depression.
Embrace bright colors.
Big, saturated colors can bring a lot of life to a small space, although we recommend using them in smaller doses to avoid a garish, cartoon-like feel. Try adding a bright rug, some pillows, or a little colorful artwork to give a dark room new life.