When you sleep, do you need to have all the lights off or are you ok having the bedside lamp on or night light on in the hallway?

I can fall asleep with lights on, but I sleep much better, more solidly through the night, if it is completely dark. Lights on would never be on purpose, but rather falling asleep on the sofa or while watching TV, and didn’t mean to. My bedroom has two clocks, one on the DVR, and the DVR time was so bright we taped mesh over it to dull it.

Well, there is a night-light in the hallway, but it’s a blue LED one and it casts a creepy blue light on everything and doesn’t really show through the door, so I’m not aware of it :)

And I don’t sleep with any lights on in my room except for the subtle light that escapes through the blinds. I can’t fall asleep with lights on unless I’m really tired. I prefer as dark and as quiet as possible.

Oh no no no, no lights for me. Everything has to be dark. Like you said, even computer light from monitors suck. Little lights from alarm clocks and stuff, alright. But I can’t sleep with a big light source in the place. That’s why I hate trying to sleep at dawn, since all the light busts in there. I can see it through my eye lids, and it sucks ass. Thankfully I have big curtains, so I can hide it. I also usually sleep under the covers, because it’s soft, keeps noise and light away. Gotta have darkness man, just gotta have it.

I need total darkness, otherwise it’ll take me long to fall asleep.

Darker is better. That said, my room houses the family router and all of its many blinkenlights, and I haven’t had any trouble.

I leave my bathroom light on otherwise all other lights are off. This goes for always…I actually never turn any lights on

I leave a lamp with a 50W bulb on behind the head of the couch where I sleep. I also leave the TV on, but I put it on a 30 minute sleep timer.

I leave the light on in case I have to go to the bathroom during the night.

I can sleep with the light on but I usually turn all the lights off. My husband is really light sensitive so he definitely doesn’t want the lights on when he sleeps.

I have all the lights off including my porch light, which shines into my bedroom. I have a himalayan salt crystal lamp in my living room that glows a cool orangey pink at night and it casts a faint rosey light down the hallway.
Going to bed now actually and the full moon is so bright my bedroom is illuminated.
love it!

The way my windows are and my tall bed makes it so I can lie in bed and gaze out into the woods.
It’s magic tonight. :-)

I’m better off with my favorite lampshade on with its clear bulb. It drives away all those monsters in my head.

@mazingerz88 You wear a lampshade to bed? lol

@Coloma Hey, that’s an idea!

I’m afraid at night so they are on.

I need complete darkness and complete silence to fall asleep. Anyone who puts the hall light on through the night will wake me. My husband could sleep through a tornado. I think this might be because he sleeps with his pillow wrapped around his head, he learned that trick when our children were babies!

When I’m sleeping, nothing bothers me.

I prefer to sleep in complete darkness, but can sleep with lights on. Because of things like alarm clocks, cable TV boxes, moonlight, etc., it’s rare to find a room that is as dark as I would really like. Luckily, I can still sleep.

All lights off please. When I stay at Mom’s and end up on the sofa-bed in the den, I have to toss a blanket over the electronic equipment (cable box, DVD player, internet box, surge protector). If lucky enough to end up in one of the bedrooms, the night lights get unplugged, even the one in the hallway.

Odd though…I don’t have any trouble napping in a room full of sunshine or on the beach. Go figure.

I used to be really picky about lights, but college cured me of that. I can fall asleep in broad daylight now :-p

I prefer total darkness, but I can sleep even if the conference room lights are on, or even if that guy in the oncoming lane doesn’t switch off his high-beams. It’s not always a good ability to have.

I prefer total darkness but I leave a night light on in the corner of the room so my dog can get up or down from the bed. He had a few oops moments in the dark that scared the crap out of us. Now he’s able to jump up or down without injury.

I am happy to sleep with a bit of light or no light at all.

I prefer sleeping in as dark a room as possible.

I definitely prefer total darkness. Currently my bedroom is very dark but the alarm clock is bright enough that I cover it. When I’ve lived in brighter homes, such as in a more urban environment without curtains, I’ve adjusted to sleeping in a dusky amount of ambient light, but in general I always sleep much better in total darkness. My idea of vacation used to include a bedroom that was pitch black at night…aah, sweet relief! Once, when I was a kid, the Christmas tree was in my bedroom because that was the corner window visible from the sidewalk. My sister was in town for the holiday and sharing my room. The tree crashed to the floor in the middle of the night but I didn’t actually wake up until someone ran in and flipped on the lights.

Recently someone told me about study results reporting that sleeping with too much light can exacerbate depression. Also, all living creatures, even plants, have a circadian rhythm that is affected by light among other things. So I guess that might support the depression statement. From Wikipedia (link): “Although circadian rhythms are endogenous (“built-in”, self-sustained), they are adjusted (entrained) to the local environment by external cues called zeitgebers, commonly the most important of which is daylight.”
However, “Lighting levels that affect the circadian rhythm in humans are higher than the levels usually used in artificial lighting in homes. According to some researchers the illumination intensity that excites the circadian system has to reach up to 1000 lux striking the retina.”

@Pied_Pfeffer I second your thought on full-daylight naps. Strange.

I can’t go to sleep at night if there is any light peeking through from anywhere.
Curtains closed properly, hall light off, bathroom light off, door closed, no lamp, nothing.
During the day though, I can fall asleep anywhere if I’m tired enough.

All lights off, please! I do like to have a nightlight in the hallway so that I can find my way to the bathroom at night without turning on any bright lights and completely ruining my sleepiness, but I don’t like it to shine into my room.

TURN OFF THAT DAMN LIGHT AND CLOSE THE DOOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It’s got to be dark and it’s got to be quiet. The only exception would be the sound of a flowing river or waterfall and maybe moonlight but I would shut the curtains.

@Dutchess_III whoa, settle down man

@Symbeline…I was not a violent mother…unless one of the kids woke me up. Man…old family story….I don’t usually sleep during the day, but I feel asleep in the basement watching TV. I had the remote in my hand. My poor daughter, maybe 6 years old at the time, came down to tell me a neighbor was at the door. I clocked her upside the head with the hand that held the remote. :( It was just an instantaneous. reflexive, reaction. I couldn’t apologize enough. :( :( But you know…they knew not to wake me up because I would turn evil. I never hit any of them again, but boy would I snarl. Poor kids. After we moved, the TV was right outside my bedroom door. Sunday mornings they’d watch cartoon, with the volume at, like 2…..

When it comes to sleep i’ve definitelty turned to the dark side, unless a mouse trods on a pebble out back & then it’s like a fucking airport runway in my house.

I need it dark. Even with the blinds closed my neighbor’s motion-sensor porch light or the street light on the corner make it too bright in my bedroom. I usually sleep with the covers pulled over my head.