Do you sleep in total darkness? Apparently you should.

[Pixilated]

Here's an interesting article looking at why we should be sleeping in total blackout conditions ... not even the streetlights or the moon should be peering in through our windows.

They make some good points, but I personally find that waking up in the wee hours in a completely lightless room can be really, really disorienting. I half-woke one time, in the guest room here in Mom's house (which has curtains with blackout backing), and decided I wanted to go to the loo. (I should add that the bedroom door was closed so I wasn't even getting the benefits of the nightlights in the hall and bathroom.)

However ... I wasn't completely awake and my brain was telling me I was in one of my previous apartments. The result was a lot of smashing and crashing as I tried to walk through a night table and a brick wall ... and Mom, blasted out of a sound sleep, was standing in the hallway trying to figure out WTF was going on and whether she should dial 911 or just walk in.

[siead_lietrathua]

i can't. i try but my hyperactive brain goes bananas.
however, it's pretty close. the only light coming is a dim night light in the bathroom attached to our room. windows are all blackout cell-shades. in daylight our rooms are very close to nighttime-darkness.

[Kheldarson]

I'd like to. But I work nights and have my son during the day so sleep is a thing that happens when I can't stay awake any longer and the little guy's asleep >.<

[anakhouri]

For me to sleep, it has to be as dark as possible. I feel you Kheldarson, when my son was a baby he was up all night and everyone said, "Sleep during the day when he sleeps!" but I CAN'T. I'm like a bird, up as soon as it's light and I can't sleep until it's good and dark.

[Andara Bledin]

I much prefer to sleep in absolute darkness.

But, since I need an alarm clock, I can't have darkness. So I also have a couple of extremely pleasant lights.

[crashhelmet]

I used to sleep in total darkness, but after tripping over my cat a few times I was forced to get a nightlight

[Racket_Man]

As I work nights I sleep during the day.

I like as much darkness as possible when I sleep during the daylight time. I do not like that much light when I am trying to fall asleep

after trying a few things I bought some "blackout" curtains for the two windows in my bedroom. It does block out most of the light (not all) and makes the room dark enough that I can sleep.

[HYHYBT]

One of the things I most hate is the pain of flipping on the light after being in total darkness for hours. Since I generally sleep well (once I make myself go to bed at all) and am not depressed, I'll take the probably nonexistent risk of continuing to leave the laundry room light on.

[Signmaker]

I work nights, so I have my bedroom blacked out with mylar sheets. With the door shut and lights out, you cant see your hand in front of your face even after your eyes adapt.

Love it.

What I do not love is the weird hard-wired part of my brain that refuses to stop being confused when I wake up. I constantly jolt awake, thinking it's night time, and that I overslept (usually up at 3pm). No dumbass, it's 11am, you just have to pee.

And you want eye pain? Go from hours of complete blackout, to staring into the afternoon summer sunshine in the hall, streaming in through the blinds you forgot to close. It's like pocket sand straight to the face.

[patiokitty]

I go through periods where I need absolute darkness but usually I prefer a light. Normally I'm afraid of the dark and I panic if I don't have some light either in my room or coming into my room from the kitchen. But when I want it dark there absolutely cannot be any light coming into my bedroom - I have blackout shades, dark curtains, and will even block the small gap under my bedroom door so I can have it nice and dark. But there are times when I need a nightlight and my teddy bear to curl up with or I lay in bed, frozen with panic. It is what it is, I guess.

[Shadowen]

I must be really odd then in that I prefer some light while sleeping, and have found that I feel like I've slept better if I sleep with the lights on then when I'm in darkness.
Also, for everyone I know, the sky getting brighter at dawn helps wake most people up. Not so much for me, for as long as I can remember, as the sun rises, I feel more and more tired until I will just fall asleep. Doesn't matter how much caffiene I have in me, how much sleep I got, if I just woke up, etc. The light hits a certain level during dawn and I'm out, like a light.

Fortunately, the reverse is true for me too. At sunset, as it gets darker, unless I am very very tired, I find myself feeling like I'm waking up and have just had an energy drink.

[Greenday]

I prefer the dark. Right now, there's only four things that can let light into my room.

My sliding doors to my balcony (I keep the blinds shut).
My lamp. (Off)
My cell phone. (Face down so no light)
My laptop. (Power button against bed so it doesn't illuminate my room)

I definitely seem to sleep better when I have absolutely no light. But since I've started working again, I MUST go to sleep early as hell and I wake up around 8am on my days off. It sucks.

[MaggieTheCat]

We definitely don't sleep in total darkness. We do have blinds on the windows but they don't begin to block out all of the street lights/neighbor's lights/moonlight that shines in. We also have an entertainment center in our bedroom but I can only think of one little tiny red light that shines constantly. Our alarm clock is dark except when you hold down a button to light it up and we charge our phones in a different room of the house.

For me, having silence is more important than darkness to sleep. Small noises will wake me up easily, and I always sleep with a fan on, just for the white noise.

Although there are some times that I can enter an absolute dead sleep and nothing will wake me up, like today...I didn't sleep well last night and ended up getting up at about 4:30am (after going to bed after 1am.) We had vet appointments for our cats at 9:30 so I stayed up until we got home from those at about 10:30 and then went to take a nap. I as OUT. Apparently my husband came to check on me and was talking to me and I was completely non-responsive, and the cats were even zooming back and forth across the house and meowing, which usually keeps me awake (and pisses me right the hell off when I'm really tired) and I didn't hear any of it. I slept for about 2 1/2 hours. I wish I could have that kind of sleep every night.

[protege]

I usually do sleep in total darkness. Usually, the only light that comes into my bedroom, comes from my neighbor's TV. But, after they go to sleep, it's pretty dark. Not so now though--all the snow outside means that it's still light, even at 3am

[telecom_goddess]

oh no I can't handle total darkness I hate it. I have a lamp on all night long, and the tv on for an hour and a half (sleep timer kicks in at that point to shut it off). I have a nightlight in the bathroom too. And lights on here and there in the house. I can't see for shit in the dark, I have terrible night vision.