Blacking Out Your Bedroom: The Dark Side Of Light

BLACKOUT YOUR BEDROOM FOR BETTER HEALTH

If feeling good and keeping your immune system strong is a priority for you, make it a goal to spend some time making your bedroom as dark as you can. Gaze around your bedroom each night, once your lights are out and your eyes have adjusted to the dark. Ask yourself: Is there any light, even the smallest dimmest amount? Is there ambient light from your window? How about any LEDs (no matter how small or what color) on fire alarms, electronics, or a/c units? Are there any night lights or lights from an adjoining bathroom? How about light creeping under your door from the main living area? Each night take notes and then the next day, take steps to block those out. The next night, do the blackout test again. Observe any remaining light and cover until your room is completely dark at night.

DO THE HAND TEST

Tonight, try the hand test in your bedroom. Turn out the lights and see if you can see your hand, even a little bit. Passing the test is when you cannot see your hand in front of your face when all the lights are out! This will show you the ideal level of darkness we should sleep in each night.

We used to think that bright light is required to suppress melatonin in humans. Recent reports show exposure to even tiny amounts of light (as low as 1 lux) can lower nighttime melatonin release. This is especially true if the light is digital from LED or fluorescent sources. This can cause you to become very alert at night when you want to be calming down instead.

Reduce or eliminate light exposure from overhead lights, bedside lamps, TVs, computer screens, phones, tablets, etc. Light from these items may make it difficult to fall asleep. This also makes it harder to wake up in the morning. Source

LIGHT AND LACK OF SLEEP

Light at night is part of the reason so many people don't get enough sleep, says Stephen Lockley, a Harvard sleep researcher. Lack of sleep is no laughing matter. Researchers have linked short sleep to increased risk for depression, as well as diabetes and cardiovascular problems.” Source

Light at night is part of the reason so many people don't get enough sleep, says Stephen Lockley, a Harvard sleep researcher. Researchers have linked short sleep to increased risk for depression, as well as diabetes and cardiovascular problems.” Source

DIABETES AND LIGHT AT NIGHT

Worried about your blood sugar? “Results show that a single night of light exposure during sleep acutely impacts measures of insulin resistance." If you aren't sure what that means, here's a little breakdown. "Insulin resistance is the diminished ability of cells to respond to insulin action transporting glucose out of the bloodstream and precedes the development of type 2 diabetes.” Basically, light exposure at night can keep your blood sugar much higher than it has to be. Dim those lights and blackout your bedroom for healthier blood sugar levels. Source

CANCER AND LIGHT AT NIGHT

Worried about cancer? Pay attention to your lighting at night. “Exposure to light at night, which shuts off nighttime production of the hormone melatonin, renders breast cancer completely resistant to tamoxifen, a widely used breast cancer drug, says a study out of Tulane University in 2014. "High melatonin levels at night put breast cancer cells to 'sleep' by turning off key growth mechanisms. These cells are vulnerable to tamoxifen. But when the lights are on and melatonin is suppressed, breast cancer cells 'wake up' and ignore tamoxifen," Blask says. Source

“A new study reports a link between exposure to blue light at night and higher risk of developing breast and prostate cancer.” Source

THE COLOR OF YOUR LIGHTING MATTERS

Blue light is especially bad. “Harvard researchers and their colleagues conducted an experiment comparing the effects of 6.5 hours of exposure to blue light to exposure to green light of comparable brightness. The blue light suppressed melatonin for about twice as long as the green light and shifted circadian rhythms by twice as much (3 hours vs. 1.5 hours).” Source

Studies time and again prove that blue light has more negative effects on sleep than red. Reduce your exposure to LED or fluorescent lights and instead use warm incandescents. The only place I have light at night is in my bathroom. It is a warm dim incandescent salt lamp. It is enough to light the bathroom or brush my teeth. If your bathroom is connected to your bedroom, take measures to block any light coming under the door by installing a door strip.

This bedroom shows black out blinds that are help create a healing sleep environment.

TIPS FOR BLACKING OUT YOUR BEDROOM:

BLACKOUT CURTAINS: It’s important to eliminate light pollution from city or street lights in your bedroom. To do this most effectively, you can use blackout curtains. Target, Amazon, and other big box stores sell these now! Make sure the curtains are rod pockets and not grommet tops. Also, ensure they are 100% blackout and not light filtering or light reducing. Install these blackout curtains with a wrap-around curtain rod. Ideally, the rod is placed at least 8” above the window frame to reduce light pollution from the top. Extend the rod 10” on either side of the window frame to even further prevent light pollution from the sides. Make sure to get enough curtain panels so that they can overlap as well as have enough material on the sides. Most windows need more than one panel. Some people use hook and eye attachments to secure the sides of their curtains to the wall for even more coverage. You will how much deeper you sleep with blackout curtains.

If you can’t hang blackout curtains (although you really should try), an eye mask is helpful. While usually not as effective as blackout curtains, a mask can be helpful. Some people even use both!

Blackout curtains can look very stylish in addition to being very practical and a good investment in long term health.

BLACKOUT ROLLER SHADES: If you have regular curtains you love, you can install a roller shade underneath the curtains. It is important to size the roller shades for them to work well. Here are some good quality roller shades I’ve used before: Rollershades.

There are also very good custom blinds and shades that are higher-end and will be custom fitted to your windows. Contact a local showroom to see what is available in your area.

This USB power strip with LED indicator light is a perfect example of something you will want to cover with electrical tape if you need to have it plugged in while you sleep.

ELECTRICAL TAPE: As a general rule, remove as many electronics from your room as possible. Take out any printers, TVs, routers, speakers, and other gadgets that are not in use. If you cannot remove them, put them on a power strip and turn off the power strip at night. For items that are not removable such as fire alarms and a/c units, electrical tape is my favorite for blocking those lights. I use a few layered pieces of black electrical tape which covers these lights well. Sometimes I will cover it in white electrical tape if the item is white so it looks less noticeable. A plus is that it is easy to remove. I have electrical tape over the light on my fire alarm, my a/c unit, my power strip, and a light on my toothbrush. I like this brand: Electrical Tape

DOOR SWEEP: Install a door sweep to block any light leaking under your doors from other rooms. These door sweeps can also block some sound, drafts, and dirt and keep out pests as an added bonus! These door sweeps are here: Door Sweeps

REMOTE CONTROLS: Using remotes to turn lamps on and off at night is easier than switching each lamp on and off. Plug each lamp into the remote outlet and you can turn on and off the lamps or anything else from afar with ease. I use these remotes to turn on and off our wifi router, our printer, lamps, and power strips once we are ready for bed. We use them for everything: Outlet Remotes