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Subscribe to RSSCould fear of the dark be ruining your sleep?
Scientists now say that many sleep problems can be traced to an anxiety that sparks as soon as the lights go down, according to a new study presented at the annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies.
The small study found that 50 percent of adults who reported sleep problems also admitted to being scared of the dark - and were also measurably more anxious when the lights were turned off.
“The good news, is that if this is what is going on, it’s very treatable,” said the study’s lead author Colleen Carney, an associate professor at Ryerson University in Toronto. “And it doesn’t take long to treat.”
To see if bad sleep might be phobia driven, Carney and her colleagues rounded up 93 college students and asked them to fill out surveys that included questions about their sleep quality and whether they were afraid of the dark.
Then the researchers ran an intriguing experiment: In the first half of the experiment the volunteers sat in a room with the lights on. In the second half, they sat with the lights off. All the while, the volunteers were wearing headsets that would periodically play a blast of noise.
“Then we watched their reactions in the light and the dark,” Carney said. “In the light they were no different. But in the dark, the poor sleepers were more likely to be startled.”
In other words, compared to the sound sleepers, the insomniacs were more likely to blink and to flinch when they heard the noise in the dark. In fact, the more times they heard the noise, the more anxious and jumpy they got. The good sleepers, in contrast, got used to hearing the noise and eventually stopped reacting to it.
Fear of the dark isn’t something that sleep doctors currently look for, Carney said. So the new research might open new avenues for treatment.
And the good news is that phobias often respond very quickly to treatment with exposure therapy, Carney added. So, just as a therapist can get you used to spiders and snakes by slowly exposing you to them, they’ll also be able get you over your fear of the dark.
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Or you could save those doctor and therapy fees by just sleeping with a low light on. Geez.
This is really interesting. Suddenly it makes a lot more sense that I sleep better when there is someone else in the house. I am only slightly more anxious when it's dark (as far as I can tell), but that might make all the difference.
I sleep better when there's someone in the house. Then if there's a reason to wake up (such as someone breaking in, of a fire) there's someone else who might wake me. I can sleep with lights on or off, but it helps to have some dim light, so I can see that the weird shadow is a coat rack and not someone in the room before I go to sleep, and if I wake up during the night, I'm not disoriented.
They say it will be "easier" to treat if it is merely a "phobia of the dark". They are kidding themselves and everyone else. They need to find the "cause" of the phobias ... and when they do, they will find they are mainly treating PTSD ... from childhood abuses, mostly physical and/or sexual, that linger long into old age from the days when the small child who couldnt protect her/himself. PTSD is not easy to "fix" and isnt just for war vets who may have serious violent issues associated with their flashbacks. It comes in many variations and degrees. It does have to do with trama, fear and the mind's need to protect the soul. A child's perspective and circumstances are very different from an adult's.
Sure. most have dealt intellectually and emotionally as adults, most even go through recovery with professionals .... but, those deep rooted feelings of it not being safe at night persist no matter how well anyone resolves the foundations that intitally set it in motion at such tender, young ages.
It is amazing what the mind will do to save your soul so you can survive and thrive, no matter what happens that could destroy a person's sanity. To be a night owl is the least of the problems in dealing with those issues.
Most of the world may be on a 8-5 schedule, but life occurs arround the clock no matter where you come from or what culture/country you live in. Just remember, no matter what time it is where your 2 feet are in this world, it is 5 pm (plus those minutes) somewhere, 8 am (plus those minutes) somewhere else and 2 am (plus those minutes) some place else --- ALWAYS.
I'm semi afraid of the dark. I don't mind the night, but I don't like real darkness. I prefer to live in the city because of the lights and noise. Being out in the country at night gives me anxiety because of how dark it is. I sleep without the lights on, but I keep my blinds open slightly to allow the outside street lights to filter in.
Doesn't explain why most people suffering from insomnia are adults, and that insomnia normally starts and stops randomly in people who never had past sleep disorders. Did people in their 40's all of a sudden become afraid of the dark?
Who wouldn't be startled sitting in a dark labratory with headphones on just waiting for a loud noise to blast in to their ear? If this is supposed to mimic a normal sleep pattern, the answer is to avoid loud blasts of noise while sleeping. It has nothing to do with being in the dark.
Finally.....93 college students? Really? You are going to base an insomnia study on a very, very small group of stressed out, partied out, college students???
Toss this study in the 'what were they thinking' pile....
there's thousands of reasons why people have insomnia and a fear of the dark is rare in adults, my reason for insomnia is a metabolic disorder that makes me feel like I'm on coffee 24-7(won't touch caffeine though) plus my muscles fatigue easily and always hurt and pain will always make it harder to sleep.
And headsets on - you have to be pretty tired to sleep with a headset on. College students and adults say women in their 40's & 50's have entirely different hormone levels. They told me sleep and hormone levels were linked.
College students could be considered anxious over studying grades money alcohol teachers parents and love or lack thereof and on and on and on.
If you are a bit afraid of the dark - there are nightlights and the bathroom light or hall light onwith the bedroom door open. It's temporary - once I had insomnia for 28 days. Didn't happen again for 30 years. I'd say skip the traumatic exposure to the dark therapy. Menopause and menopause really mess with your sleep.
For crying out loud. Buy a night light. Probably cost $1.98 at WalMart.
Therapy will cost you a fortune and make you crazy.
Recycled Hope: So anyone who is uncomfortable in the dark was abused and molested as a child? Really? Step back into reality please.
I have sleeping problems since very early childhood (partially know the reasons), tried several suggestions for getting more sleep, but found out, not long ago, that I sleep or at least feel better when leaving the window blinds completely pulled up. :-)
Seek and ye shall find. Whatever works, works.
Magnesium &/or other nutrient deficiency &/ or excito-toxin overload (MSG, artificial sweeteners) are likely the reasons much more so that being afraid of the dark. For crying out loud, how in the world did someone make that jump - just because someone jumps from sudden startles do NOT always mean afraid of the dark. These colleges kids' nervous systems are on overdrive and overload to begin with. Likely they consume food additives and maybe not the best nutrition. Fish oil & magnesium will likely help clear the problem.
Fear of the dark is a survival instinct. In the wild you have to react more to sounds in the dark to survive night predators. In the wild, deep sleepers would not have survived, and therefore would be breeded out of the gene pool. So now we're trying to "cure" those with the best survival instincts. We're doomed.
i already knew this. my husband has insomnia, he also wont sleep at night without the tv or a light on. at night, i can tell every room hes been in because he leaves a light on. i started asking him questions about his childhood, and he admited that he "used" to be afraid of the dark as a kid, but his dad wouldnt allow a light to stay on. he said he would lie there awake, jumping at every noise and hiding under his covers. but he says he "out grew" that. well i wasnt so sure. that anxiety also got him in the habit of staying awake all night. his schooling suffered because he was so tired during the day. as an adult, he found a "night life", couldnt hold a day time job because, the same as school, he was so tired during the day. we had a kid,and he had to get a job and keep it, so now he works the graveyard shift. figured that if he was going to be up all night he might as well earn a paycheck.
In my mid 50s & I still have to leave the TV on (sound muted ).......but I remember as a kid, insisting that my bedroom door was ajar & the hallway light remained on. It is kind of a stupid phobia, I suppose. It's gotta' go back to childhood or something. I've always worked the graveyard shift, and so rarely sleep nights anyway, but when I have tried turning off everything......I find myself just laying there....anticipating something creeping out of the darkness and on the verge of grabbing me. The heck with THAT!!!! I'll leave the TV on....( I think I actually do have a couple of nitelites stashed away somewhere....but the movement on the television allows for the illusion that there are other people around...).......Don't get me started on the "head under the covers" routine...LOL
I won't say that all "can't-sleep-with-the-lights-off" issues are caused by childhood traumas, but I agree with Recycled Hope that it is something to consider and her comments should not be dismissed. In my forties, I started having trouble sleeping alone in the dark . . . something I had not experienced before. I was being treated for extreme anxiety, yet nothing could explain this sudden phobia. A few years later, I realized I had been sexually abused when I was eleven; although I had consciously suppressed the memory for decades, this experience was manifesting itself on a subconscious level.
It's what you see when the lights go out. Patterns can be fatigue or just adjusting to the change in light. It can make you scared. If you are prayerful person - prayer helps.
Nightlights and bathroom light on helps. Turn a lamp on. But don't look for memories that aren't there. Only a professional can dig those out.
They had headsets on - only the really tired could sleep with those on. Let alone one that blasts intermittently.