Sleep hygiene is creating habits that improve the quality and consistency of sleep. It has been a focus of mine in the last few years. My reason for focusing on sleep hygiene is that I noticed how much sleep quality affects my quality of life. One of the most important parts of sleep hygiene for me has been controlling light in the evening. I’ve found that the kind of light I am exposed to has a huge effect on the quality of sleep that I end up getting.
Being a student living on campus at UBC means getting exposed to lots of light in the evening. Light from street lamps or the hallway, bulbs in your room, or electronic devices, all have an effect on sleep. My goal has been to get as much control over the light that I’m exposed to at night as I can to improve my sleep quality.
Reducing Light during Sleep
I first decided to focus on light reduction during sleep. Any lights left on while I slept meant I was less refreshed when I woke up. I’d be more sluggish during the day, and generally not feel as well. I did some research and found that this is a common result in studies on light and sleep.
To reduce light at night, you first have to identify where it is coming from. For me, the biggest source of light was my window, door, and electronics. It’s easy to turn off your light switches, but not as easy to turn off other sources of light. A couple hours before bed I unplug and put away electronics, and cover up any small lights with fabric or tape. For my window, I found a variety of blackout curtains available online. Curtains and blinds that attach using velcro and suction cups are available. I decided to buy a velcro adhesive version, and it’s worked out quite well. For the door, I had an easier solution. All the light was coming in through the bottom, so I just moved my entrance rug to cover the gap at night. If you don’t have a rug handy, draft blockers can be placed on or attached to the underside of your door. For light coming in the sides, adhesive weather stripping will seal the gap.
Screen Time and Light
The next thing I noticed was that when I use screens or lights at night, it makes it much harder to fall asleep. Blue light is the most stimulating, because it is most like sunlight. I’ve started taking steps to dim and redden my room’s light as the evening goes on. When I do this, as I get closer to my bedtime I get more tired and fall asleep easier.
The first step I’ve taken is purchasing a pair of blue light blocking glasses. I usually put these on around 8pm, and they are especially useful if I’m not at home or in control of the lighting. The second step I’ve taken is purchasing LED bulbs & lamps that can be dimmed and colour controlled. After sunset, I dim them down and make the light warmer, and eventually completely red. For most devices, you can turn on a sunset mode that reddens the screen after a certain time. This combined with blue light blocking glasses can be very helpful if you need to study or use a device at night.
It can be difficult when midterms and finals come around to stop light exposure at night. Still, some simple steps can be taken to reduce the negative effects. By paying attention to the light I was exposed to at night, I was able to make positive changes to my sleep. I’ve had deeper sleeps, don’t wake up at night, feel more rested, and get sleepier closer to bedtime. Try some of these steps yourself, and let us know below if they worked for you!
