Saturday, July 21, 2012

Darkness

Sunset from the front porch

We have beautiful sunsets here. But once the sun goes down, it gets dark. There are no city lights here. No street lights. No neighbor’s lights. And if we don’t turn on the porch light, then it’s really dark. The only light you can possibly see is a distant blinking red light from cell tower just over the tree line. The stars are beautiful and bright. We can’t wait to get a telescope at some point. When we have a full moon, we have brilliant moon shadows.

This makes for a very dark bedroom at night. You can’t see your hand in front of your face usually. We like it. We sleep better. The only light in our room is a tiny green light on the smoke detector on the ceiling. I haven’t managed to get it covered up yet, but it’s on my to-do list. But you’d think it was a spotlight since the room is pitch dark.

I used to be obsessive about the lights in our room at night. I gave up using an alarm clock with glowing red lights a long time ago. I even covered up the green dot on the house alarm in the old house with a piece of cardboard. We used to cover up the cable box clock with a towel. I guess I’m still obsessive.

It’s good for you to sleep in total darkness. It affects several aspects of your health. You’ll need to eliminate all sources of artificial light in the room to make it pitch black. This may mean removing electronic devices, clocks, and night lights from your room. You might consider getting blackout curtains.
 
According to Dr. Mercola, sleeping in complete darkness helps with the production of melatonin and serotonin, decreases the risk of cancer, and can control your weight.  Sleeping soundly helps increase memory, creativity and problem solving skills. He has several articles about sleeping in total darkness. Here’s one.

6 comments:

  1. Hi Beth, I followed the link from facebook to your blog. Enjoyed reading about your adventures so far. Best wishes!
    p.s. I am a Dr. Mercola fan. I've learned much about health and nutrition from him...if I'd just put more of it in to practice!

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    1. Glad you're following our adventures. I think Mercola gets it right most of the time. Have you heard of Jordan Rubin? He has very good advice as well. He has a new company called Beyond Organic.

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    2. I have not, but I will look him up. And lucky you for finding such a great farm. We have not switched to raw milk yet, but we have looked in to it. I am doing what I can with the grass fed beef and pastured chickens and dairy products, but it's hard to do it all at once with the cost factor. I love Dr. Mercola's Whey Protein.

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  2. I'm jealous of those dark night skies. Go get a telescope!

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    1. A telescope is on our list. We hope to get one soon. Then you'll have to come show us how to use it.

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  3. Ohhhhhhhhhh the dark nights is something I miss the most. We used to get lawn chairs and lay outside all night and watch the meteor showers in August. I LOVE how dark it gets there. I wanna come home!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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