{"id":2498,"date":"2021-10-14T11:25:59","date_gmt":"2021-10-14T10:25:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.englishblinds.co.uk\/blog\/?p=2498"},"modified":"2023-12-04T21:13:07","modified_gmt":"2023-12-04T21:13:07","slug":"do-blackout-blinds-help-you-sleep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.englishblinds.co.uk\/blog\/ask-an-expert\/do-blackout-blinds-help-you-sleep\/","title":{"rendered":"Do blackout blinds help you sleep?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Do blackout blinds help you sleep? Yes, because us humans are diurnal, which means we\u2019re theoretically programmed to be awake during the day and asleep at night, and we\u2019ve evolved with the physical traits (like a certain number and arrangement of rods and cones in the eyes, and light-mediated circadian rhythms) to support this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This blog post will explain why blackout blinds<\/a> (or more precisely, darkness during your sleeping hours that can be effectively provided by means of blackout blinds) help you sleep. Read on to learn more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do blackout blinds help you sleep, and why?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Yes they do, and because our bodies tell us that darkness means sleepy time, and light means wakey wakey time; whether that darkness actually happens at night and that light comes during the day or not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While some people aren\u2019t massive fans of getting up before brunch is a meaningful menu option and others refer to themselves as being nocturnal as they prefer to be active during the wee hours, we as a species are \u201csupposed\u201d to sleep when it is dark, not sit about playing Xbox until 4am\u2026 Regardless of what we actually do in terms of when we sleep and wake up in reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But one thing most folk will agree on, even those that sleep during the day and stay up at night due to the necessity of working nights as opposed to the necessity to destroy your rivals in Diablo IV, is that sleeping is easier when it\u2019s dark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This remains the case whether that darkness comes from a genuine \u201cabsence of sun\u201d or alternatively, due to the presence of sun-repelling accessories, like an eye mask or um, blackout blinds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The absence of light sends important signals to the body that it\u2019s time to wind down, rest, and regenerate, and we\u2019re still learning more all the time about how acutely important this is; to the point that we\u2019re advised to get off our phones or laptops a certain time before we go to bed, as even that small amount of light can really mess up our internal body clocks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blackout blinds are more or less a must-have in the bedrooms of anyone who needs to sleep past dawn, and also for a great many other folk too facing issues with artificial lighting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That includes challenges like light pollution from streetlights, car headlights, other buildings, and \u201cthat one house every street has that blows a year\u2019s lighting budget on illuminated Christmas decorations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We all got 99 problems, friend, but blackout blinds mean that external lighting doesn\u2019t have to be one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do blackout blinds make you more tired?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Come again, Pol? Do blackout blinds make you more tired!? What\u2019s that about?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bear with me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blackout blinds can help you to get to sleep, and stay asleep; which means that you won\u2019t get the same cues you get when the sun rises that bring us out of sleep naturally, and which tend to happen in natural light regardless of how tired you are if you aren\u2019t doing something to keep the sun at bay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, if you have a good sleeping pattern and get however many hours of sleep a day\/night you need as a rule, blackout blinds aren\u2019t going to turn you into Sleeping Beauty and ensure that you never wake up ever again, unless a handsome prince appears to open the blinds for you and restore you to life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Basically, if you need eight hours sleep and you\u2019ve got around eight hours of sleep, you\u2019re going to wake up at around the eight-hour point either naturally or by means of the alarm going off, without feeling life death, blackout blinds being closed regardless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, if your body\/mind still needs to sleep when you have to wake up, the sound of the alarm or whatever you use to raise you from slumber suddenly cutting through your dreams is going to be really intrusive, maybe even more so if you have blackout blinds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why? Well, sunlight, or a gradual increase in light like you get at dawn, brings the body slowly and gently out of sleep. If you wake naturally thanks to the light increasing, you wake up by passing though the various stages we transition from sleep to wakefulness. That way, you\u2019ll feel less tired than if you\u2019re woken up suddenly (like by an alarm) when your body was still screaming out for rest, even if you haven\u2019t actually slept as much as you really needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a way round this though, if you regularly find that your alarm wakes you up and that you don\u2019t feel properly rested and somewhat shocked awake in this way because your blackout blinds tricked your body into thinking you were still good to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Get yourself a \u201csunrise alarm clock,\u201d also known by terms such as a daylight alarm clock or wake up light. A proper one by the way, which uses a natural light-emulating bulb of the right frequency and lumens (whatever they are), rather than one advertised on eBay in pidgin English, which won\u2019t have the same effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To use these, you basically set a time you want to wake up at, and for 20 minutes to half an hour before this time, the light comes on dimly and very gradually gets brighter and brighter, finishing up bright but not glaring, which is designed to emulate sunlight at dawn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This should bring you naturally out of sleep like waking up gradually with the sun would, so that you\u2019re not shaken out of REM and left wondering where the hell the dragon went, flailing about with your eyes gummed together and your ears pleading for mercy by that BEEPBEEPBEEP shrieky alarm sound that literally nobody ever wants to hear at any time of the day or night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s quite a lot going on when it comes to the potential application of blackout blinds, actually\u2026<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Blue<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s my quick-and-dirty round-up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n