Throughout most of human history, humans went to bed shortly after the sun went down and woke up in the morning as it rose. There were candles and later oil lamps, but the light wasn’t very bright, so people still went to bed early. Then came Thomas Edison and the incandescent lightbulb and everything changed, including our sleeping habits. So, if you have problems getting to sleep at night, blame him. Scientists at the University of Colorado have found that if you live by the sun’s schedule you’re more likely to go to bed at least an hour earlier, wake up an hour earlier, and be less groggy. That’s because your internal clock and external reality are more in sync. The sun adjusts your clock to what may be its natural state, undoing the influence of light bulbs. Researchers sent a group of volunteers on a camping trip to test their theory. Instead of artificial lighting, they had only sunshine during the day and campfires at night. After a week of camping, the subjects’ melatonin levels shifted two hours earlier, and they actually went to bed an hour earlier. Their bodies were recalibrating themselves. When they returned to their normal lives, the melatonin and external time were again in conflict. They were waking up, but the melatonin in their bodies was telling them they should still be asleep, leaving them feeling sleepy. The study clearly showed that there’s a relationship between light and sleep, so if you want to recalibrate your melatonin levels, go camping.
