Relax! This is not an advertisement to recruit villains for the Marvel universe or to persuade you to see the attractiveness of the immoral dark side. Rather, this is a plea to see darkness for what it is – as a health benefit and a natural occurrence for which we have lost all appreciation.
Yes, appreciation. We do not value the darkness in our lives, enough.
We are all taught that sleep is important for our lives, that the world turning and that the circadian movement of time is essential for the continuation of humans, animals and nature. This makes sense, as none of us can function endlessly in one long wheel of motion. However, why is darkness important in this process? Can’t we just rest at any time of the day and feel the same?
Can the world as we know it go on without darkness?
Let’s find out.
The healing touch of darkness
It has been found that all human beings on average need 6 to 9 hours of sleep during the night time, and darkness is essential for a good night’s healthy sleep. Oftentimes, one hears of children who say that they have been up all night studying, but ‘caught up’ on their sleep during the day, but experts say this does not work. Proper darkness is a prerequisite for proper sleep that heals the body and mind in a way that sleeping during the daytime cannot. But what if you create an artificial darkness in your room during the day to sleep? Health experts actually recommend that you don’t try to mimic nighttime sleep during the day and instead, ask that you engage in shorter naps so as to give your body the chance to become tired at night (in the way that it should) and thereby, return to a state of sleeping in proper darkness. This is when you go through the correct cycles of sleep, which include falling asleep, light sleep, slow wave sleep, and REM sleep.
Moreover, just like the screens which dominate our lives and emanate light, any form of continuous light is not healthy for us. This results in confusion for our body clocks and can then lead to diseases like hypertension, depression, asthma and even type 2 diabetes.
American Paul Bogard is someone who has researched, written and spoken much about the importance of darkness in people’s lives and who has always treasured the benefits that darkness brings. He shows that carcinogens or cancerous agents can be produced by artificial light during the time from midnight to 6 a.m. in what is called a ‘circadian trough.’ Thus, those who ‘pull all-nighters’ regularly or work the night shift in certain factories can be susceptible to this. But Bogard also suggests that it is not only those who work at night who are at risk because even when we are in darkness inside our homes as we sleep, we are also still exposed to light from street lights outside, or even neighbourhood lights, which means that we may not be sleeping in complete darkness.
The benefits of darkness also extend to the natural world around us. Animals require darkness in order to remain safe from predators while they hunt for food. A number of animals such as the owl and alligator also possess excellent night vision and depend on the darkness to go about their usual activities. In the water, extreme light can hurt various aquatic life such as zooplankton as they can be seen by predator fish and be eaten. Zooplankton only comes to the surface of the water in the darkness at night to feed. If light disturbs this process, then they will stay hidden which will increase phytoplankton and adversely impact the richness of the waters, in a process known as excessive eutrophication.
Bogart has also explained that animals like sea turtles require darkness to take the right path to the ocean waters, once they hatch on the shore. Some animals, in fact, need the darkness for mating and the perpetuation of their species.
Finally, plants and animals too, expect darkness with the change of seasons to follow their various biological processes such as preparing for winter, etc. Too much light may not alert animals to the onset of winter and prevent them from storing adequate food, while trees may not be prepared for frost when too much light is present in their surroundings
The beautiful darkness
Our cities and towns are lit up almost all the time and it seems as though we are not friends with the darkness anymore. Gone are the days when you could look up at the night sky and see the stars, their formations, the moon and the collective beauty of all these. The sky, the moon and the stars, all these celestial bodies teach us something we cannot learn in books. They teach us to look beyond ourselves to the things that are greater than us, and that nature holds us all in the palm of her hand. There is a great spiritual connection that binds us all together. We are but a small part of the larger universe and a small link in the great chain of being. We need to remind, ourselves constantly, of who we are on this earth so that we don’t lose our spirit and our hope. So yes, darkness is important, perhaps now more than ever.
And if all this is not convincing enough, we can also save money and our planet by switching off those lights and reducing the consumption of electricity, certainly paving the way for a better future. Street lamps may be necessary for those travelling at night, but even these can be switched to LED lamps and conserve energy. Light pollution is slowly destroying our planet, and we need to change our habits now.
Imagine the savings on our wallets and on our health – both ours and the planet’s – if we only appreciate the darkness a little more…
(Anouk De Silva)