11 ms·

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 o

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 several friends that say it makes a real difference.

scruple 5y ago
> 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 curtains, better sheets, better blanket/comforter, better pillows, a better mattress, a sleep mask, reducing noise. It took a while to sort all of this out. "Better" is also subjective. I also slowly worked on getting to bed earlier. I used to get into bed around 11:30pm. Now I'm in bed between 9:30 and 10pm. I read a little bit and then sleep. I stopped having calories after ~7pm. We have young children, too. 3 under 3. I sleep very well now. Despite the regular interruptions I actually feel like I am getting the highest quality sleep of my adult life right now. The blackout curtains, though... The difference they made from one day to the next was immediately obvious. My wife and I both woke up feeling more refreshed, looked at each other and said, "Why did we wait so long to do this?"
- aantix 5y ago
  +1 for the blackout curtains. Easily 20% better sleep. And our only source of light at night prior was a street light outside our bedroom window.
- cj 5y ago
  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)
  - agumonkey 5y ago
    Accidentally set up android's new gradually lit screen alarm, and it really made waking up quite nicer. The kind of "oh wow, so simple yet so nice" feeling when it happens.
  - btgeekboy 5y ago
    Living in Seattle, having lights that turn on in the morning really help wake me up in the winter months. I use an Alexa routine which turns on NPR and turns the nightstand lights to ~50% so they’re providing light but not harshly so.
  - tlokas 5y ago
    I live in the arctic, and black out curtains in the summer is a must have (as it's daylight 24/7 for a month). And around december it's dark 24/7, so a sunrise lamp helps a lot to wake up naturally and not feel like total crap every morning.
  - scanny 5y ago
    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 light. I think having a small amount of light gradually filtering in helps a bunch to wake-up. Video of shutters - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_KePLmie7lE https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_KePLmie7lE
    - jcynix 5y ago
      > Here in Germany they have metal shutters [...] Small correction: not metal, these are (mostly) made out of plastic nowadays, sometimes aluminum, and earlier, from wood. But yes, the effect if they aren't fully closed, is nicely adjustable to limit light without making a room pitch fark.
    - egeozcan 5y ago
      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.
- whoisburbansky 5y ago
  Would you say the blackout curtains made a bigger difference than the sleep mask?
  - yojo 5y ago
    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.
    - whoisburbansky 5y ago
      Huh, that's kind of wild. I'd assumed that blocking all light out at your eyes would do the same trick, I'll have to try the blackout curtains. Thanks!
      - yojo 5y ago
        I use a mask too, but it moves around when I sleep. Even properly positioned I haven’t found a mask that doesn’t leak around the edges.
        scruple 5y ago
        I have this problem, too. I've tried probably a dozen masks, the best was one that I got overseas in Southeast Asia and it has no branding, etc.
        mikeiz404 5y ago
        Your face structure may be different than mine but I found this sleep mask stays put and works well at blocking out the light — https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07D3M5TTZ https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07D3M5TTZ
  - 5y ago
- ijustwanttovote 5y ago
  My wife was complaining about waking up in the middle of the night. I grabbed some black out curtains. She woke up the next day feeling better than she has for a long time. Turns out there was a streetlight that would hit her in the face and was causing her to wake up. We didn't realize it until we got the blackout curtains.
exeldapp 5y ago
I don’t live in an area with a lot of light pollution but have black out curtains for full moons and that hour or two after sunrise before I’m awake and they have made a noticeable difference.
jbverschoor 5y ago
Pilots are only allowed to stay in hotels with 100% blackout curtains
- moron4hire 5y ago
  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.
- aucontraire 5y ago
  Not true that there is any sort of official rule to this effect. I've slept in a lot of crew hotels that had only semi-decent curtains. It is true that well-behaved airlines, who take an active interest in fatigue prevention, do try to book hotel rooms with blackout curtains and good sound proofing. This is however not a universal behaviour and not all destinations where layover is necessary have any hotels with these qualities.
Terry_Roll 5y ago
> I don't use a set of blackout curtains, but I know several friends that say it makes a real difference. Have blackout blinds on every window upstairs so thats its dark enough during summer mid day sun to sleep. They keep the heat out during the summer (to the point I dont need the air conditioning on albeit on the hottest days and the warmth in during the winter which contributes to energy saving, the only downside is the air gets stagnant in small buildings. I believe a lot of German homes also have external blinds over their windows for similar reasons plus they offer a layer of security making it harder to break in, but then what do the Germans know? 100lux is quite bright, I have a lux meter and here in the UK 100-200lux is a really cloudy winters day level of brightness, where as a bright summertime day will exceed tens of thousands lux for comparison. Its because light affects the release of melatonin black out blinds are fitted. Melatonin increases the release of stem cells and stem cells play their part in repairing the body, but like I say earlier, CO2 levels building up cause the body to be stimulated even during sleep so sleep is not as refreshing as it could be in small homes and almost all UK homes are small, but hey the CO2 helps contribute to an increase in GDP and thats all that counts!
Someone 5y ago
> 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.
- bb123 5y ago
  Pretty incredible how well our eyes can move between these completely different scales of brightness like its nothing.
lm28469 5y ago
> 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 several friends that say it makes a real difference. God bless Europeans and their cutting edge roll shutter technology, I can sleep in total darkness despite the street lamp 10m away from my bedroom window. And ye[, it definitely makes a difference.

scruple 5y ago

> 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 curtains, better sheets, better blanket/comforter, better pillows, a better mattress, a sleep mask, reducing noise. It took a while to sort all of this out. "Better" is also subjective. I also slowly worked on getting to bed earlier. I used to get into bed around 11:30pm. Now I'm in bed between 9:30 and 10pm. I read a little bit and then sleep. I stopped having calories after ~7pm. We have young children, too. 3 under 3. I sleep very well now. Despite the regular interruptions I actually feel like I am getting the highest quality sleep of my adult life right now. The blackout curtains, though... The difference they made from one day to the next was immediately obvious. My wife and I both woke up feeling more refreshed, looked at each other and said, "Why did we wait so long to do this?"

aantix 5y ago
+1 for the blackout curtains. Easily 20% better sleep. And our only source of light at night prior was a street light outside our bedroom window.
cj 5y ago
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)
- agumonkey 5y ago
  Accidentally set up android's new gradually lit screen alarm, and it really made waking up quite nicer. The kind of "oh wow, so simple yet so nice" feeling when it happens.
- btgeekboy 5y ago
  Living in Seattle, having lights that turn on in the morning really help wake me up in the winter months. I use an Alexa routine which turns on NPR and turns the nightstand lights to ~50% so they’re providing light but not harshly so.
- tlokas 5y ago
  I live in the arctic, and black out curtains in the summer is a must have (as it's daylight 24/7 for a month). And around december it's dark 24/7, so a sunrise lamp helps a lot to wake up naturally and not feel like total crap every morning.
- scanny 5y ago
  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 light. I think having a small amount of light gradually filtering in helps a bunch to wake-up. Video of shutters - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_KePLmie7lE https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_KePLmie7lE
  - jcynix 5y ago
    > Here in Germany they have metal shutters [...] Small correction: not metal, these are (mostly) made out of plastic nowadays, sometimes aluminum, and earlier, from wood. But yes, the effect if they aren't fully closed, is nicely adjustable to limit light without making a room pitch fark.
  - egeozcan 5y ago
    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.
whoisburbansky 5y ago
Would you say the blackout curtains made a bigger difference than the sleep mask?
- yojo 5y ago
  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.
  - whoisburbansky 5y ago
    Huh, that's kind of wild. I'd assumed that blocking all light out at your eyes would do the same trick, I'll have to try the blackout curtains. Thanks!
    - yojo 5y ago
      I use a mask too, but it moves around when I sleep. Even properly positioned I haven’t found a mask that doesn’t leak around the edges.
      - scruple 5y ago
        I have this problem, too. I've tried probably a dozen masks, the best was one that I got overseas in Southeast Asia and it has no branding, etc.
      - mikeiz404 5y ago
        Your face structure may be different than mine but I found this sleep mask stays put and works well at blocking out the light — https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07D3M5TTZ https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07D3M5TTZ
- 5y ago
ijustwanttovote 5y ago
My wife was complaining about waking up in the middle of the night. I grabbed some black out curtains. She woke up the next day feeling better than she has for a long time. Turns out there was a streetlight that would hit her in the face and was causing her to wake up. We didn't realize it until we got the blackout curtains.

exeldapp 5y ago

I don’t live in an area with a lot of light pollution but have black out curtains for full moons and that hour or two after sunrise before I’m awake and they have made a noticeable difference.

jbverschoor 5y ago

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

moron4hire 5y ago
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.
aucontraire 5y ago
Not true that there is any sort of official rule to this effect. I've slept in a lot of crew hotels that had only semi-decent curtains. It is true that well-behaved airlines, who take an active interest in fatigue prevention, do try to book hotel rooms with blackout curtains and good sound proofing. This is however not a universal behaviour and not all destinations where layover is necessary have any hotels with these qualities.

Terry_Roll 5y ago

> I don't use a set of blackout curtains, but I know several friends that say it makes a real difference. Have blackout blinds on every window upstairs so thats its dark enough during summer mid day sun to sleep. They keep the heat out during the summer (to the point I dont need the air conditioning on albeit on the hottest days and the warmth in during the winter which contributes to energy saving, the only downside is the air gets stagnant in small buildings. I believe a lot of German homes also have external blinds over their windows for similar reasons plus they offer a layer of security making it harder to break in, but then what do the Germans know? 100lux is quite bright, I have a lux meter and here in the UK 100-200lux is a really cloudy winters day level of brightness, where as a bright summertime day will exceed tens of thousands lux for comparison. Its because light affects the release of melatonin black out blinds are fitted. Melatonin increases the release of stem cells and stem cells play their part in repairing the body, but like I say earlier, CO2 levels building up cause the body to be stimulated even during sleep so sleep is not as refreshing as it could be in small homes and almost all UK homes are small, but hey the CO2 helps contribute to an increase in GDP and thats all that counts!

Someone 5y ago

> 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.

bb123 5y ago
Pretty incredible how well our eyes can move between these completely different scales of brightness like its nothing.

lm28469 5y ago

> 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 several friends that say it makes a real difference. God bless Europeans and their cutting edge roll shutter technology, I can sleep in total darkness despite the street lamp 10m away from my bedroom window. And ye[, it definitely makes a difference.