Light in your bedroom at night is bad for health because it disrupts your body's internal clock (circadian rhythm) by suppressing melatonin, leading to poor sleep, and impacting metabolic processes, increasing risks for diabetes, heart disease, depression, and obesity; blue light from screens is especially disruptive, signaling the brain to stay awake. Darkness signals the brain to produce melatonin, a hormone essential for sleep, but even dim light can interfere with this, leading to health issues, notes National Geographic Society and DarkSky International.
Increased risk of health issues
Too much light at night can lower melatonin, the hormone that supports your body's overnight repair work. That's why keeping your bedroom dark is one of the simplest ways to protect your sleep and your long-term health.
Sleeping with the lights on may affect sleep quality and increase the risk of certain health problems, like heart disease. These problems might be the result of disruptions to a person's internal sleep-wake cycle, which is heavily influenced by exposure to light.
We sleep better in the dark because darkness triggers the production of melatonin, a hormone that promotes sleepiness, by the pineal gland in the brain; whereas exposure to light inhibits melatonin production, making it harder to fall asleep and disrupting your sleep cycle.
An increased amount of light at night lowers melatonin production, which results in sleep deprivation, fatigue, headaches, stress, anxiety, and other health problems. Recent studies also show a connection between reduced melatonin levels and cancer.
UVA (aging) rays have a longer wavelength meaning they penetrate the skin deep into the dermis causing photodamage and skin cancers. UVB (burning) rays cause sunburns and affect the epidermis. UVC rays are the most harmful. UVC rays are blocked mainly by the ozone layer, which, unfortunately, depletes daily.
Artificial light during the night is confusing to the brain. In fact, a recent study from Northwestern showed that, even when we think we're sleeping well, light in the sleeping environment disrupts our sleep patterns and our physiology.
10 hours before bed: No more caffeine. 3 hours before bed: No more food or alcohol. 2 hours before bed: No more work. 1 hour before bed: No more screen time (shut off all phones, TVs and computers).
What is the 3-2-1 bedroom method? This is a simpler version that focuses on the evening wind-down: stop eating heavy meals and drinking alcohol 3 hours before bed, finish work and anything mentally stimulating 2 hours before, and switch off screens an hour before sleep.
Signs You're Not Getting Enough Core Sleep
For some Japanese, having lights on at night can reduce anxiety and foster better sleep quality. It's also thought that incorporating light into their evening routine can help signal the transition to sleep, making it feel more natural.
Koalas are thickset arboreal marsupials with a thick grey fur. Found only living in Australia, they mainly live in the eucalyptus trees and spend around 22 hours of their time sleeping (90%). They spend the other 10% of their day eating and sitting around.
When we turn off the lights, the room becomes dark, signaling to the body that it's time to rest. Sleeping in the dark helps the body produce melatonin, which makes us feel sleepy. A dark and quiet room is essential for creating a comfortable sleep environment.
Sleeping in darkness, often associated with fear, actually offers numerous benefits. Complete darkness aids circadian rhythm, melatonin production, and overall health. Achieve darkness with blackout curtains, eye masks, and a calming bedroom environment.
Protect yourself from blue light at night
Red light is less likely to shift circadian rhythm and suppress melatonin. Avoid looking at bright screens beginning two to three hours before bed.
Higher levels of exposure to artificial light at night were linked to increased stress-related activity in the brain, inflamed arteries and a higher risk of heart disease, according to a small study of adults in Boston.
In his piece, he revealed that through his years of research, he's found that rumination is the biggest thing that causes poor sleep. He says that being worried about something at night has affected his own ability to fall asleep.
You want to be facing (but not directly facing) the door, not have it opening along the same wall as your head, and according to Suzanne not beneath a window either. 'Locate the bed on a solid wall and always factor in a tall, comfortable headboard,' she continues.
My personal routine is get ready for bed at 10pm (I sleep a lot so this can seem quite early), which involves: *taking meds *brushing teeth *unplugging everything in the house *Tidying room *preparing bags for the next day (although this could be part of a morning routine too) *getting into pyjamas *hanging clothes up ...
The general advice is to avoid stimulants 1 to 2 hours before bed. Try it and see if things improve. Regular exercise helps with sleep, but avoid anything too energetic in the 90 minutes before bedtime if you find it stops you from sleeping. Find out more about the benefits of being active for your mental health.
Just a night or two of exposure to faint light is enough to raise your pulse and increase insulin resistance — factors that increase the risk of heart disease and diabetes, researchers find.
Sleeping with the TV on may disrupt your sleep and cause anxiety. You get blue light exposure from TV, which can decrease melatonin production. Watching TV before bed may raise your risk of heart disease and obesity.