Why does death seem more depressing and scary when I think about it at night (in bed) than when I think about it the next morning (or during the day)?

I believe that being in the still darkness makes you more aware of your feelings. That inevitable feeling of “what if I don’t wake up in the morning?” hangs over you. Whenever you wake up in the morning, it’s a bright new day and you’ve made it through the night. It’s something I don’t think we’re that thankful for. :)

Maybe it’s because during the night, it’s quiet and you can hear nothing else but your own breathing and heartbeat. Those are the only two things assuring you that you are a person living in the world. It makes you a lot lonelier than you are in the daylight, considering you are thinking bout death. Also, this is more technical, some psychological studies show that emotions can be affected by the amount of light the body gets. In fact, there is actually something called Seasonal Affective Disorder where people who get less sunlight tend to get more depressed than those who do. Connecting that piece of information to your quandary, maybe one of the reasons why it seems more ominous and unsettling at night is because it’s dark and you’re alone.

Light and Darkness as Life and Death ( title by @mazingerz88 )

The light reaches in
Spreading through the room
Sending the dark
Fleeing for cover
The dark cowers there
Before the light’s brightness
But the light can’t win
The night will come
The light will retreat
And the dark recover
This battle
Of night and day
Of dark and light
Will not end – ever ( poem by This Girl )

Light makes you happier. Hence, no light can lead to SAD. Hence, rainy/cloudy Seattle has a lot of people with SAD.

I like Seattle as a place. I am merely stating a fact.

I think everything is scarier at night. If you hear a random noise during the day, you’re likely to think “house settling” and go on about your business. Hear that same noise in the middle of the night, and your thought might be “serial killer!”

That, combined with nothing other than your thoughts to keep your mind occupied, I think.

@augustlan Yes exactly! Although when I was in college I had this next door dormate that during the night looked like a zombie and during the day still looked like a zombie…brrrainnsss!

@augustlan and @mazingerz88 I’m one of those paranoid types, so whenever I’m in the dark and I hear a noise, I think someone is after me or that I’m being watched! :P

@augustlan , I can honestly admit that I am paranoid when it’s at night especially when I have to pull an all-nighter for university work. I always feel like I’m in a cliche horror or suspense movie where I die a sad death.

@KatetheGreat Same! I can’t sleep alone without the TV on or the lights…too much dark imagination!

@mazingerz88 I sleep with my iPod plugged in. I have to have something to drown out the outside noises, or I’d be up all night!

@KatetheGreat Beware the earphone that stretches to probe the sleeping brain, yes there is an app that triggers that! Bwahahaha! ( sorry but I digress )

@MRSHINYSHOES This could be a way for death not too be scary at night, activate one’s sense of humor! Yes?

@mazingerz88 You’ve created another reason for me to be paranoid! >:(

Maybe it’s because death IS eternal darkness and silence, the big sleep. ;-)

We are presupposing that death is to be feared. I can honestly say that death has never been a fearful thought for me, daylight or dark. While I live a happy and enjoyable life, if death appeared for me tonight I would be neither surprised or fearful. Why is the thought of death fearful to those of you whom it is?

Every night, when I go to sleep, I die. Every morning, when I wake up, I am reborn.
Mahatma Gandhi

Generally, when I hit the sheets, I am so tired that about the only thoughts I have are looking for The Sandman and tapout sleep time.

I never worry about death. I have faced death so many times, as a police officer, that I have mentally prepared myself when its my time to go…......I am ready.

My thoughts about night time is this: “night time is the right time to be with the one you love”.

Works for me.

ShinyShoes…..how you doing? jp

My only fear of dying suddenly would be my animals being locked in their barn for days before anyone found us. lol

our visual system likes to be busy and when the lights are out there is lots of visual resources available for the imagination. That can amplify whatever you are thinking/feeling.

@seazen hit the nail on the head. When we fall asleep, we enter a death-like state. Hence the reason that some people say that a person who’s sound asleep is “dead to the world”.

Probably because nighttime is scary because of the darkness. Darkness usually creates the nighttime fear of death.

Actually, I should have emphasized “depressing” in my question, not “scary” as much. I asked the question because the other night, just before sleeping, I had thoughts about the inevitability of the end of life, and eventually being buried or cremated, and the thought of it all was so depressing at night in bed. Then, the next morning, it was like “Uh, I don’t really give a hoot about it that much anymore.” Lol. So I just wondered why I felt that way at bedtime. It’s not the first time. Always at night, right before sleeping. And not during the evening hours “before” going to bed, but only when I’m “in” bed.

All good comments. I think KatetheGreat’s answer is quite accurate. Dabbler’s and augustlan’s answers make a lot of sense too. Even during the evening hours before one gets into bed, there is still a lot of stimulation around you, so you don’t “isolate” those thoughts. But once you’re in bed, like Kate says, you become very aware of those depressing thoughts, and without other distractions, they make so much more impact. And the darkness doesn’t help either. lol

I believe when people are tired they act silly, being irrationally spooked or saddened is included in silly here. I am just like you @MRSHINYSHOES I get sad at night too, then I feel braver in the morning just like you, except my shoes aren’t as shiny.

The day distracts us and the night attracts us to delve into our thoughts; thoughts, and therefore emotions, are stronger in silence.

The act of sleeping sort of resets our thoughts, so in the morning what you thought about the night before isn’t such a priority anymore. You have your life to worry about right now.