Can blackout curtains be bad for sleep hygiene?
Can blackout curtains have a negative impact on sleep hygiene?
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Answers ( 1 )
Blackout curtain ensure you sleep in darkness, which is beneficial for your body's internal rhythm. The problem many people have with sleep is because of too much exposure to light in the bedroom - what with digital devices on clocks, tvs, tablets and computers and any other electronics that emit light. One of the worst offenders are those small blue or green lights that are part of the power-on/off buttons. Red isn't as big a problem, the body doesn't recognize it enough to interfere with sleep, but blue and green lights can be detected by your body, even with your eyes closed - it will cause a disturbance in your sleep pattern because the body does respond to light. That's part of how the Circadian Rhythm works - our bodies respond to darkness and go to sleep, and wake up with the light. So, it's to your great advantage to limit your exposure to light during sleeping hours. And that's where blackout curtains can help with limiting outside light at night. Though it can potentially interfere with the light that enters the room in the morning, it can at least ensure that you have light blocked at night. Now, the only real reason for a need for blackout curtains is if your bedroom has significant light pollution from outdoor night lighting, from street lights, building lights or other sources. So in cases where there's not a lot of light that enters the room at night, it might not be worth it to install blackout curtains.