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Light exposure during sleep impairs cardiometabolic function

pnas.org

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Re: Light exposure during sleep impairs cardiometabolic function

#91

Post by pezezin »

scanny wrote: post #56
cj wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Blackout curtains are great for sleeping, but I have trouble waking up and getting out of bed when the room is still completely dark (when it’s light outside in the AM). Recently bought some Hue smart lights to simulate sunrise with blackout curtains which is helping. Next up, motorized blinds that open at a scheduled time. (#firstworldproblems)

Here in Germany they have metal shutters that vertically descend and black out all light and sound. It’s common on most windows. They are permeated with little holes that allows light and sound in if they have not fully descended. If they have then the little holes are folded shut. I’ve found the same issue where if they’re completely down waking up is hard, so I leave the top two rows of holes open to let in natural…

You Germans have them too? Good! In Spain we have used them since forever, but it seems that most countries have yet to discover their wonders. They are one the things I miss the most when living abroad or traveling around.

Re: Light exposure during sleep impairs cardiometabolic function

#93

Post by moron4hire »

jbverschoor wrote: post #69
synaesthesisx wrote: post #3

This article refers to "moderate" (100 lx) light exposure - this amounts to an overhead light on in the room for the entire duration of sleep. I would say an overhead light is a significant amount of light, but wonder how low the threshold is for sleep disruptions. Living in an urban environment, there's a non-negligible amount of ambient light that makes its way in. I don't use a set of blackout curtains, but I know…

Pilots are only allowed to stay in hotels with 100% blackout curtains

In searching to attempt to find corroboration for this factoid, literally the only things mentioning pilots and blackout curtains I could find were your own comment here and a random forum post from a pilot saying blackout curtains don't really work. Nothing about any requirement that pilots only be placed in hotel rooms with blackout curtains.

Re: Light exposure during sleep impairs cardiometabolic function

#94

Post by yojo »

whoisburbansky wrote: post #33
scruple wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't use a set of blackout curtains, but I know several friends that say it makes a real difference. Maybe a year ago, I was planning on having a sleep study done. At some point in my 30s I stopped feeling like I was recovering when I slept. I decided, however, that there were some things that I could work on improving before having a sleep study. Most of what I addressed falls under sleep hygiene: Blackout curt…

Would you say the blackout curtains made a bigger difference than the sleep mask?

Not OP, but had the same experience several years ago. The answer is yes.

If you want a cheap test, you can tape aluminum foil over your bedroom window(s) for a night (learned this from The Martian!). It will fully block all light, and you probably already have what you need to try it in your home. Note that it does have the downside that from the outside you look like a crazy person.

I also use this trick when traveling - some AirBnBs have crazy thin curtains.

Re: Light exposure during sleep impairs cardiometabolic function

#95

Post by stavros »

scanny wrote: post #56
cj wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Blackout curtains are great for sleeping, but I have trouble waking up and getting out of bed when the room is still completely dark (when it’s light outside in the AM). Recently bought some Hue smart lights to simulate sunrise with blackout curtains which is helping. Next up, motorized blinds that open at a scheduled time. (#firstworldproblems)

Here in Germany they have metal shutters that vertically descend and black out all light and sound. It’s common on most windows. They are permeated with little holes that allows light and sound in if they have not fully descended. If they have then the little holes are folded shut. I’ve found the same issue where if they’re completely down waking up is hard, so I leave the top two rows of holes open to let in natural…

Same here in Greece. I have no idea how people sleep without them, visiting the UK or US is always frustrating because I have to wake up at the crack of dawn.

Re: Light exposure during sleep impairs cardiometabolic function

#96

Post by mschuster91 »

egeozcan wrote: post #72
scanny wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here in Germany they have metal shutters that vertically descend and black out all light and sound. It’s common on most windows. They are permeated with little holes that allows light and sound in if they have not fully descended. If they have then the little holes are folded shut. I’ve found the same issue where if they’re completely down waking up is hard, so I leave the top two rows of holes open to let in natural…

I'm living in Germany and my wife really likes shutting them fully. That really makes it hard for me to wake up. I wish I could automate them. 2 problems: We don't own the flat we are living in and I wouldn't even know where to start hacking these fully closed electronic systems.

> and I wouldn't even know where to start hacking these fully closed electronic systems.

If you have electronic shutters, most of these are a simple 230V based system: one neutral line and two 230V inputs, one for each direction. Hacking them is easy, get two programmable 230V relays (e.g. use a Raspberry Pi relay board) and never ever activate both relays at the same time.

Re: Light exposure during sleep impairs cardiometabolic function

#97

Post by simias »

scanny wrote: post #56
cj wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Blackout curtains are great for sleeping, but I have trouble waking up and getting out of bed when the room is still completely dark (when it’s light outside in the AM). Recently bought some Hue smart lights to simulate sunrise with blackout curtains which is helping. Next up, motorized blinds that open at a scheduled time. (#firstworldproblems)

Here in Germany they have metal shutters that vertically descend and black out all light and sound. It’s common on most windows. They are permeated with little holes that allows light and sound in if they have not fully descended. If they have then the little holes are folded shut. I’ve found the same issue where if they’re completely down waking up is hard, so I leave the top two rows of holes open to let in natural…

I just moved to a new flat and, by design, the motorized shutters don't close fully and the top two or three rows of "holes" remain exposed when the motor disengages.

I was a bit annoyed at first and considered tweaking the mechanism to close the shutters fully, but in the meantime the impact this tiny changes has made on my and my girfriend's sleep patterns is tremendous and now I think I'll leave it that way.

We used to be very late sleepers, I work from home and regularly wouldn't wake up until 11AM or so. Now at 8:30 sharp I'm awake and ready to get up. It's a pleasant way of waking up too, I can tell that my body is sort of meant to be woken up that way instead of using an alarm sound. Obviously it also means that I get tired much earlier at night. But overall it seems like a positive change, especially since I'm in my mid-thirties and it's not like I regularly party all night anymore and I appreciate getting more time to do stuff in the morning.

Re: Light exposure during sleep impairs cardiometabolic function

#99

Post by frn123 »

cj wrote: post #29
scruple wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't use a set of blackout curtains, but I know several friends that say it makes a real difference. Maybe a year ago, I was planning on having a sleep study done. At some point in my 30s I stopped feeling like I was recovering when I slept. I decided, however, that there were some things that I could work on improving before having a sleep study. Most of what I addressed falls under sleep hygiene: Blackout curt…

Blackout curtains are great for sleeping, but I have trouble waking up and getting out of bed when the room is still completely dark (when it’s light outside in the AM). Recently bought some Hue smart lights to simulate sunrise with blackout curtains which is helping. Next up, motorized blinds that open at a scheduled time. (#firstworldproblems)

I got SwitchBot Curtain for a simple DYI motorized curtains project. Affordable and trivial to install. I let the light in 10 minutes before the alarm. Should've got it sooner.

Re: Light exposure during sleep impairs cardiometabolic function

#100

Post by bb123 »

Someone wrote: post #90
synaesthesisx wrote: post #3

This article refers to "moderate" (100 lx) light exposure - this amounts to an overhead light on in the room for the entire duration of sleep. I would say an overhead light is a significant amount of light, but wonder how low the threshold is for sleep disruptions. Living in an urban environment, there's a non-negligible amount of ambient light that makes its way in. I don't use a set of blackout curtains, but I know…

> This article refers to "moderate" (100 lx) light exposure I think that’s relative to daylight, which already is 1,000 lx under an overcast sky, 10,000 in full daylight, 100,000 in full sunlight.

Pretty incredible how well our eyes can move between these completely different scales of brightness like its nothing.
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