The key to healthy bedroom lighting is following the timing of nature’s schedule.

Light makes your body wake up and have energy! So during the day, pull up your shades or open your blinds.

In the evening, after it gets dark, a completely shaded window helps to ensure that your body really gets the signal that it is time to start making the sleep-producing, night hormone melatonin. Blinds or curtains are important to ensure that no street lights or first morning light get in. Read Effect of Light on Sleep for more information.

Nightstand lamps should have the capacity for dim light in the evening. Please only buy those with dimming options. Bodies can get confused in their sleep rhythm if a bright lamp is turned on at night, as if the sun showed up in the evening.

If there is a bathroom off your bedroom, the same rule applies. Please have dimmers on those lights or use a night light turned on for nighttime bathroom trips.

If you are a bedtime reader, keep a small flash light on your nightstand for a small area of low light to read by that will not disturb your body’s sense of what time of day it is. It is important to make sure that it is never directed at your eyes, only at the page you are reading. Clip-on lights for reading in bed are another option.

In the evening, even if you aren’t asleep yet, turning off your bedroom lights allows your body to produce the most melatonin. Read Lights at Night Effect Health to see what effects melatonin has on your health and mood. Unless you are a power sleeper, keep a pair of our blue-light blocking glasses (also explained in Lights at Night Effect Health) on your nightstand, and use them if you get up or turn on any machines that have light such as your computer, DVD player or TV. (Call 1-818-808-0899 if you need a pair.)

If you cooperate with how your body is set up to work, you are likely to have far happier snoozing!

Read the other health tips in my sleep and bedrooms series to learn how to keep your bedroom healthful and restful.

Sweet dreams!

Dr. Pepi

January 21, 2010