“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt,
Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt,
It lies behind stars and under hills,
And empty holes it fills,
It comes first and follows after,
Ends life, kills laughter.”
If you haven’t already guessed the answer to Gollum’s riddle for Bilbo the Hobbit, which is the topic of this article, you will soon.
Sunday was the famous “fall back” day, when we turned back our clocks at bedtime and got an extra hour of sleep. It always sounds so lazy and luxurious, until Monday afternoon when we go home in the dark, right? I don’t know about you, but it always feels to me like once we hit daylight saving time, the daylight takes a quantum leap downward. The days abruptly seem a lot shorter, as if the earth tilted suddenly, steepening the slide to the winter solstice, the darkest day of the year.
This is the time of year I usually talk about sunlight, help people with seasonal affective disorder, recommend mid-day sun baths and full-spectrum desk lamps. We do need light, to make vitamin D, to keep our bio rhythms on track, to stay healthy. But we also need the dark. Now, when there is plenty of it, is a good time to use it to our advantage.
Our bodies have evolved to be sensitive to the light and dark. We are designed to be daytime creatures, active when the sun is up, resting in the dark. This circadian rhythm beats in our very cells, and our body chemistry responds. When this cycle is interrupted, trouble ensues.
In 2007, the International Agency for Research on Cancer declared that working the night shift is a carcinogen. That’s right; going against the circadian grain can actually give you cancer. It also seems to increase rates of diabetes, obesity and depression. One reason for this is likely to be a little hormone called melatonin.
You might have heard of melatonin as a “natural” sleep aid that you can buy in the supplement aisle. That is the synthetic kind.
It is based on the real natural melatonin, made in the pineal glands of our own brains. Melatonin helps you get a good night’s sleep. Research is also showing melatonin to be protective against breast and prostate cancer, and maybe others as well. But the catch is that our brains only make it in the dark.
I don’t mean in the evening hours, while you are sitting at your computer or watching TV. I mean in the dark. Lights out, eyes closed, no television going. The darker the better. Research is showing that even a little bit of light can decrease melatonin production and disrupt sleep. What is more, not all light is created equal.
Blue light, a little longer in wavelength than UVA light, is a powerful suppressor of melatonin. Blue light shines bright from computer screens, televisions, even cell phones. During the day, blue light can boost attention, reaction times and mood, but at night it is disruptive. Evening exposure to light, especially blue light, may be one reason so many people have trouble sleeping. If this is you, try shutting off the screens a couple hours before bedtime. Make your bedroom as dark as possible. Use light-blocking shades, or an eye mask, if you can’t get the room dark. If you need a night light, use a dim red one.
Gollum’s riddle, while clever, is not quite accurate. Darkness doesn’t end life, but rather sustains it. Our bodies thrive on the dark and the light, the ebb and the flow. So as we lean into winter, enjoy the expansion of the night, and use it in good health.
“Darkness soothed. It softened the sharp edges of the world, toned down the too-harsh colors. With the coming of twilight, the sky seemed to recede; the universe expanded. The night was bigger than the day, and in its realm, life seemed to have more possibilities.”
—Dean Koontz, “Midnight”
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Dr. Peggy Spencer is a physician at Student Health and Counseling. She is also co-author of the book “50 Ways to Leave Your 40s.” Email your questions directly to her at pspencer@unm.edu. All questions will be considered, and all questioners will remain anonymous.
