Glorious darkness
It’s well-known that Wairarapa’s dark skies are popular with stargazers, but they’re also a boon for snoozing. Sara Bunny muses on getting a better-quality kip over this side of the hill, and hears some expert tips for a good night’s slumber.
It’s been almost two years since we arrived in the Wairarapa, and the first night in the new house sure was memorable. Not because of the back spasms from wrestling the washing machine up the front steps, or even the heroic amount of Palliser sav polished off in celebration, but because of the dark.
After waking in the wee small hours desperate for the loo, I stumbled out of bed towards the vague direction of the door. But there was no door to be found. In a sleep-fuddled haze, I tentatively traversed through thin air and started groping the wall like a deranged circus mime.
The pitch blackness that was soothing just a minute ago was suddenly stifling, and a weird sense of panic rose in my throat. Had I overshot the door and ended up in the wardrobe? Was I actually sleepwalking? The room was booby-trapped with boxes and visions of a broken ankle flashed through my mind.
There wasn’t a patch of light anywhere. Not a thin slice at the edge of a curtain or a vague glow from the moon on a mirror. It was unnerving at the time, but after quickly getting used to the glorious Wairarapa dark, anything else now feels like trying to sleep inside a disco ball.
I’ve long been one of those unfortunate types that can’t nod off, but hitting the pillow in pitch blackness seems to help. And according to an expert from the Massey University Sleep/Wake Research Centre, there’s definitely something in it.
At a recent talk organised by the Wairarapa Dark Sky Society, Associate Professor Mirjam Munch took an eager audience through the perils of too much light at night. She told us that blue light, like the sort that radiates from your phone or computer screen, is the worst offender, while warmer, yellow-toned lights don’t seem to impact our complex sleep rhythms quite so much.
Most of us know to put down our phone or step away from the computer screen at least an hour before bed (it’s actually doing it that’s the problem), and Professor Munch says spending at least half an hour outside in the sunshine during the day can also help keep our circadian rhythms in check.
And those blue-light filtering glasses that look like a marketing gimmick? Professor Munch says they can actually work, too. I also learned there’s a handy setting in many PCs called ‘night light setting’, that lets you change the lighting in your computer monitor from stark white to a more circadian rhythm-friendly golden glow.
But the experts say it’s not just about limiting blue light before you hit the sack. Light in a room can still go through our eyelids when we’re asleep, and there’s a growing pile of research that links too much light while snoozing with everything from increased risk of depression, diabetes, and thickened arteries, to fragmented sleep cycles and shorter time in the land of nod.
In fact, Professor Munch told us that scientists have also noticed a difference in human brain wave patterns when we’re sleeping in a light-filled room. What that means exactly is anyone’s guess, but it’s crazy stuff, and a big problem for city slickers trying to snooze under the glare of neon signs and street lights. While we can feel slightly smug over here in our piece of paradise, it’s all the more reason to protect our perfect Wairarapa night sky from unnecessary light pollution.
And I’m off to buy some blue-light filtering glasses for the office.
