The Nightlight: Like Nails On A Chalkboard

         

I was awake half the night last night.  There were little lights everywhere.  There were two LED face clocks,  the light on the cordless phone charger and the night light.  I felt like I was trying to sleep in an open field during the sunniest part of the day, except without the soothing affects of the UV rays.  Since the beginning of my marriage one of my biggest pet-peeves, among the many, is light in my bedroom. 

While we were learning about Natural Family Planning we read about the effects of night light on one’s cycle.  Since I was learning fertility signs on my own in a home study course, I figured I would try all the recommend methods of improving fertility signs—no matter how much hocus pocus I thought it was.  I took folic acid, fish oil, ordered other special multi-vitamins and ate more carrots.  The final bit of reproductive cycle voodoo I thought I would try was a totally dark bedroom, except for three nights a month.

We removed the alarm clock, the computer, the chargers; we took two dark navy sheets and thumb-tacked them over the bedroom window (later we bought blackout material from a fabric store and made curtains).  It was totally dark.  We never had a T.V. in the bedroom, but that would be a big “no-no” too.  We slept incredibly soundly, peacefully and felt refreshed.  To my surprise, my fertility signs did become more clear to me and my cycle became a predictable 28 days.  It was quite exciting.  I was hooked.

However, now when I stay elsewhere as a guest or in a hotel, any light in my nighttime bedroom is like nails on a chalkboard.  I have to go around the bedroom unplugging electronics and covering them up with blankets.  I have a sleep mask for unavoidable lights like a smoke-detector. 

Light pollution is something to look into if you have some inexplicable ailment, or have trouble sleeping.  Sleeping in total darkness, or with the moon cycle, can solve health problems without medication.  It is particularly helpful to those charting their reproduction cycle and or suffering infertility.  Your body releases hormones only in darkness and if you do not get enough of these hormones at regular intervals then your body stops functioning properly…Below are some articles on the topic.

Links to articles about light pollution and fertility:
Presence of light points to breakthrough by Sue Ek
Lunar Fertility by Alice Jones Webb
Light Pollution and Your health