Are you familiar with a new sleeping trend on social media, the “Dark Showering”? This trend is teaching you to take showers with lights dimmed or off completely. They say that if you have trouble nodding off,dark showering can help you sleep quickly. Showering in the dark or dim light reduces your stress, relaxes your mind and makes it easier to fall asleep quickly. Research supports the idea because the activity actually increases the production of melatonin (sleep hormone) and regulates the body temperature. This means it helps nighttime wind down.
This is totally different from a morning shower because in the morning showering makes you energetic and makes you awake while showering in the dark helps reduce light exposure and helps prepare your body and mind for a shut down. But it doesn’t mean that dark showering is a cure for all sleep problems. Instead it is just a trick to calm your nighttime routine. Scientific research has also supported this trend.
Now the question is, does dark showering really help you fall asleep faster or it acts just as a soothing ritual that makes you feel good at the end of the day. Experts are trying to find the accurate answer. Until they find the answer, you just have to understand that you should take it as a bedtime hack.
However, some studies show that taking showers in the dark appeals to some people as a relaxing strategy before bedtime.wait for the results concluded by the experts who are still exploring the facts about the authenticity of benefits of dark showering for better sleep.
This article includes detailed information about what experts say about dark showering, its health benefits, sleep benefits, downsides and why you should try it.
What is Dark Showering?
Dark showering acts like other sleep-inducing relaxing rituals. It helps set your mood for slumber. But it is still a social media trend. Therefore, more research is needed to find out the truth about dark showering and its effects on sleep quality. Experts nowadays say that dark showering helps improve your sleep cycle.
According to the available research till date, dark showering is still not recommended as a first strategy for improving sleep quality but as it helps many people sleep better, you also should take it positively. Researchers have also offered some initial clues to prove that dark showering helps with sleep. Several articles had been published in the last decade that suggested that taking a shower at midnight at the temperature 104 to 108 degrees-Fahrenheit one or two hours before bedtime, just for 15 minutes can improve the sleep quality. This is because a warm shower near bedtime declines your body temperature that helps induce sleep faster.
These benefits are associated with simple showering but they are thought to be also linked with dark showering.
In addition, it is mental magic but it obviously helps your brain to assume that it is the end of the day.
However, still the information isn’t enough to believe in the benefits of dark showering for better sleep completely, especially around sleep time. We need more studies and research results to rely on dark showering for better sleep.
What Does Science Say about Dark Showering and Sleep?
Many sleep experts working at the department of sleep research, told us that your brain and body take it as a preparatory step for sleep when you take a bath in dim lights or in completely dark. This thing improves your sleep onset time and promotes sleep overall health.
It is a common research about sleep that when your brain starts inducing sleep in your body, it creates a slight drop in your core body temperature i.e may be 1 degree. This happens when you take a shower at nighttime, warm water raises your body temperature and when you exit the shower, the core body temperature suddenly drops. This mimics the natural process of decrease in body temperature when you’re ready to fall asleep. This step makes it easier for your brain to induce sleep.
In addition, taking a shower in the dark or dim lights reduces the light exposure in the evening that usually supports your natural sleep cycle and signals your body about sleep time. Your body also has a hormone, melatonin that regulates your circadian-rhythm produced by your brain. The hormone also signals when it’s time to sleep or awake. Light information entering your eyes controls the production of melatonin. This means continuous light exposure suppresses melatonin production while dim light or dark increases the melatonin production.
Thus, it is concluded that showering with lights helps increase the melatonin production that prepares your brain and body for sleep ahead of time.
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Mental Health Benefits associated with Dark Showering
There are also many mental health benefits associated with dark showering. This means it is not only sleep improvement but your brain overall gets affected by dark showering in a positive way. If you want to have an uninterrupted and peaceful sleep at night, you need to de-stress or relax your mind so that sleep can induce your brain cells easily. Taking shower in dark helps shifting your nervous system from the parasympathetic state. This helps inducing relaxation and sleepiness.
This is an additional positive aspect of dark showering that it reduces the cortisol levels, which is the wake-promoting or awakening-stimulating hormone. This. It is not wrong to say that dark showering is similar to an act of mindfulness.
Strides suggest that darkness promotes space for your other senses. These noses take over and you can focus more on your comfort level. Therefore, when warm water hits your nerves, the smells of your cleansers and soothing sound if water makes your brain relaxed. These sounds, smells and activities are similar to being a star of meditation.
In addition, this atmosphere also aligns your visualization and thoughts in a relaxed state along with washing away your worries. Your brain creates a blank slate that helps welcome sleep leading to start of next day fresh in the morning.
The Downsides of Dark Showering
The above discussion compels you to believe in the beneficial aspects of dark sitting. Though dark showering may sound promising but you should be aware of a few thighs before you try it at home. Because it also has some risks, including:
Danger for Safety: as you’re not accustomed to dark,doing activities in the dark can increase the risk of fall and injury. Therefore, if you have night-vision problems, balance issues or low vision along with a high fall risk, you shouldn’t take a shower in the dark.
Another most important thing is that shivering in the dark is not a cure for all your sleep problems. You should discuss your sleep concerns with your healthcare provider. It is true that if you have sleep problems like insomnia, sleep apnea or restless legs, dark showering may help you as part of your mindfulness strategies, but you cannot replace it with a medical treatment.
Tips for Showering in the Dark
When you think dark showering is right for you, you should follow these instructions and suggestions coming from sleep experts. So that you may get most out of the practice.
Time it Out: An ideal time frame for showering can help you fall asleep faster and promotes good sleep. Taking a dark shower one to two hours before sleep time can help you gain optimal cooling temperature required for better sleep and shutting down your mind at night.
Test the Waters: Warm water is another greatest tip for dark showering. Keeping water temperature on the warm side helps your mind and body raise and rhythm down the temperature quickly. But the water temperature shouldn’t be too cold or too hot. Keep it normal.. You can set the temperature according to your personal preferences. However, the optimum water temperature range for dark showering is 104 to 108 degree Fahrenheit.
One thing to remember, it’s not about warmth yourself, it’s about the cooling impacts you feel afterwards. The drop in the core body temperature after a warm bathing at night supports quick onset of sleep.
Make Lightning Low and Ambient: Instead of complete darkness, you should prefer a dim light white taking bath. Red-toned amber light can be used for this purpose. Because warm-hued lights power beneficial or inducing sleeps, especially the people who are struggling with insomnia.
On the other hand, blue light like light coming from screens can disrupt the release of melatonin. However, more research is needed on the effects of different benefits of light on their sleep quality.
Keep your Bathroom Safe: Low visibility increases more fall risks. Therefore, your bathroom floor must be clear from all obstacles. You can add a non-slippery mat on the bathroom floor to avoid slippage and fall.
Try Aromatherapy: You can turn your dark showering into a sensory relaxation routine. Use scented showering products that often help relieve your stress and promote sleep. Several studies show that aromatherapy is associated with improved sleep quality in people who are experiencing insomnia symptoms. The most popular scent for inducing deep sleep is lavender that is considered a potentially effective option for promoting good sleep.
Breath Deeply: Different breathing techniques like deep breathing practices are considered best for soothing deep sleep and reducing sleep problems. You can add dark showering to your daily ,mindfulness practices like a breath work. Because it provides you extra calming and sleep-promoting effects.
According to studies, dark showering has the similar impacts on your sleep quality and the mindful breathing with torso-twist. It increases sleep quality and duration as well.
Stay Relaxed after a Dark Shower: Taking some additional steps can enhance the beneficial impacts of dark showering. For example, if you keep your room cool, dark and quiet as you reenter your room after taking a dark shower, your mind makes the atmosphere perfect for sleep.
In addition, experts also suggest using blackout curtains, sound off fans and machines in rooms all are necessary to increase the benefits of dark shivering for inducing better and quick sleep. Staying away from devices after a dark shower is also essential to reap more and more benefits. For this you need to keep your laptop, TV, computer and phone out of your bedroom.
Combination of Dark Showering with Other Deep Habits: Many relaxing techniques like reading or stretching in dim light can help you look in this practice. But they help you only when these habits resonate with you.
Experts also added that everyone is unique in their lives. Therefore, it is possible that one thing that benefits your friend may not work for you. Therefore, focus on practice, personalization and developing your own sleep habits to synchronize with your mind and body for better sleep.
It is a trending activity nowadays to resolve sleep problems through dark showering. Tough the above discussion is supporting taking a shower in the dark, the most reliable recommendation for sleep problems is always for your healthcare provider. So you should contact your doctor who is experiencing some sleep issues. Medical care is the best management strategy for all health related issues.
No doubt, social media trends prove effective to some extent but most of the time medical support is needed to resolve the problem whether it is about your health or sleep.
Studies point out that prolonged and untreated difficulties lead to more serious issues that need to be treated with the right diagnosis and best treatment option.
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Conclusion
Taking a shower in dimmed or off lights before bedtime, is a growing trend on social medya. Experts also support the idea and say that dark showering helps promote better sleep. However, there’s still no authentic research about dark showering and sleep specifically.
But some studies suggest that dark sleep is effective for promoting deep sleep in healthy adults who have no specific sleep concerning issues like insomnia or sleep apnea.
According to these studies, reduced exposure to light increases the melatonin production that is sleep promoting hormone. But taking a bath with lights off or dim light is also associated with some safety risks. Adding a small, dim, night light to your bathroom while taking a shower can reduce the risk of fall and injury.
For resolving severe sleep problems,contact your healthcare provider. They may help you diagnose and treat the problem so that your sleep quality can be improved and you can fall asleep faster.
