Controlling the light levels in your bedroom can help you enjoy better quality sleep
Light plays a huge role in how much quality sleep we get. While most of us know it’s easier to sleep when it’s dark, the link between natural light and sleep actually goes much deeper. Light impacts everything from your body clock to your hormones, and managing your access to sunlight can help you improve your sleep quality and quantity in the long run.
With that in mind, we’re going to take a closer look at the relationship between sunlight and sleep, including how light impacts rest, and what you can do to prepare your bedroom for the best possible sleep every night.
How does light impact sleep?
Light impacts your circadian rhythm – the 24 hour internal clock that coordinates your bodily processes, including sleep. Powered by the brain, the rhythm depends largely on light exposure, and if we were only exposed to natural light we’d find our rhythms becoming closely aligned with sunrise and sunset, feeling energised during the day and sleepy in the dark. However, electricity and artificial light can impact or disrupt your body clock.
Light also plays a part in your melatonin release. Otherwise known as the ‘sleep hormone’, melatonin is produced in response to darkness, and helps inform your body that it’s time to relax and wind down. When we expose ourselves to light late in the day, your melatonin release can become compromised.
Even when we’re asleep, light can still impact our rest. Light exposure at night can hinder the transitions between the sleep cycles, reducing the quality of your sleep overall. Too much light can cause you to wake up repeatedly, disrupting the sleep cycle and stopping you from enjoying deeper, more restful sleep.
Should you sleep in the dark?
In an ideal world, we would all sleep in complete darkness. A pitch black room reduces the risk of possible distractions and disruptions when it comes to sleep, while sleeping with a light on interferes with sleep cycles. Closing your eyelids isn’t enough to block out all light, so you should try to make sure your bedroom is as dark as possible even before you shut your eyes.
However, some people prefer to sleep with a light on, whether for comfort reasons or because they’re scared of the dark. If this is the case, you should make sure the light is as low and dim as possible. Try making the light gradually dimmer over the course of several weeks until you’re used to sleeping in the dark.
How to prepare your bedroom for better sleep
In order to enjoy the best sleep, you want to make sure your bedroom as is dark as possible. Blackout blinds or curtains block out the majority of external light to keep your bedroom cool and dark even in summer.
Try and reduce the amount of artificial light in the bedroom too. Keep lights and lamps dim and warm to help with relaxation and encourage the right mindset for sleep. You should also be mindful about your use of electronic devices. Ideally, you should keep devices out of your bedroom entirely, but if you must have them there, try not to use them for at least an hour in the lead up to sleep.
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