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> 2) How do people just "go to bed" early because they get bored? I'm actually jealous of that idea. If I just decided to "go to bed" early, it would most likel
by asark 7y ago
> 2) How do people just "go to bed" early because they get bored? I'm actually jealous of that idea. If I just decided to "go to bed" early, it would most likely involve me staring at either the ceiling, my phone, or a book for a few hours.
I did a no electronics and no electric light after sundown thing for a couple weeks. Lived after-dark hours by a couple candles—found two beeswax tapers are about the smallest amount I could comfortably read by, assuming they were close, though unshaded looking at them directly by accident and being blinded/feeling eye-pain was a real problem. Beeswax because once you notice how chemical-spill-smelling the cheap parafin ones are you can't un-notice it.
I went to bed way earlier than I would have otherwise, during that time, and generally much better rested than usual. I think it was a combination of the lower light and the lack of hyperstimulation from having a world of audio-visual, passive and interactive, entertainment at my fingertips. I'd usually read for a while then turn in, not because there wasn't more I could do (there's always more to read) but because it was just time to sleep and because I didn't have a friggin' carnival going on in my house I actually felt that.
I'd thought my whole life I was a night owl, but now I'm pretty sure 90%—or more—of the "I just can't sleep at night, it's how I am" stuff you read on here and other places on the Web is the same problem I (actually) had/have: our houses are friggin' amusement parks complete with incredibly bright lights, so we're constantly hyper-entertained and hyper-distracted. Of course we can't sleep! We've got more and better entertainment than a damn Emperor's celebratory feast would've in yester-year—with the relative plenty in food and drink to match, I might add, should we desire it—and it's on tap, in our homes, 24/7.
- rhinoceraptor 7y agoAlso, many device screens and light bulbs have daylight color temperature which can disrupt melatonin. It's amazing how blue LEDs are built into everything. I wish some of the smart bulbs makers would get rid of their fancy mood lighting colors and make a light bulb that automatically adjusts its color temperature and brightness with the sun (or at least an ideal sun cycle if you don't want to go to bed at 5pm in the winter, or live in Alaska).
- pault 7y agoI already do this with hue white LED bulbs and timers in the app. I love how the blue mid day light looks like natural sunlight, and in the evening it's a nice warm glow. I have it fade to dark between 9pm and midnight, so I know it's time to go to bed when it starts getting difficult to see things.
- pretendscholar 7y agoDo you think a dim led tea light in a dark colored glass container would work similarly?
- asark 7y agoProbably would. Again, I think the light was only part of it, the rest being that you're very limited in what you can do without electronics. Even if you make an exception for, say, putting on an album to listen to and then not messing with it (no skipping around or browsing music on a screen) there's still not a ton. And what's left might be lots of fun—you can board game in low light, certainly, and toss maybe ten candles around the room and you could play card games just fine, you can read sheet music and see well enough to play an instrument, you can write, and so on—but none of it's the kind of sensory assault of watching TV/Youtube/whatever or playing a video game is. Reading or practicing your scales isn't in the same sleep-banishing league as inviting a world-class acting troupe into your house for the evening to put on any show you desire, ya know? Or having some kind of answer-any-question-you-think-up-on-a-whim (kinda, almost, as long as you don't dig too deep) oracle available. Which is basically what the modern Internet is—anything you want, any time, wall-to-wall world-class performances of anything you like, answers to whatever dumb trivia pops up in your head, at a button press. Every stupid nagging thought can take hold and drive you to action at any time because it's actionable. Powerful, sure, amazing, sure, but a good (healthy) idea to let it loose in your home at all hours? I think not. I did try to find some sort of small desktop battery-powered incandescent nightlight for a while but all that stuff's LED now. Probably would be fine anyway, I just wanted the smooth and warm light frequency curve. May try the LED route some time, though even fairly weak ones are a hell of a lot brighter than two candles so you'd have to watch the wattage carefully to not end up with something that, in an otherwise dark house, is actually pretty damn bright.
- graeme 7y agoYou might try bedtime bulbs. They have a good spectrum and can be combined with dimmers. Had similar experiences to you when going camping with no electricity. Feel asleep very early. I should try to replicate it at home. I do low lights but still use screens too much.