Have you already booked your vacation? Have you ever thought about vacation outdoors? To be exactly, about camping? According to an US-study, camping should be helpful against sleep disturbances. Our inner clock is reason for this. After one week of camping, the inner clock adjusts to the natural day-night-rhythm. Read more about camping against sleep disturbances:
Sleep disturber artificial light
Light is severely influencing our biological clock. Since the invention of the bulb, artificial light has made its arrival in our lives. There are several advantages to it, but also some disadvantages. Due to the artificial light, our natural day-night-rhythm becomes disturbed. The sleeping hormone melatonin is reason for this. Melatonin production increases during darkness. Therefore, we get tired in the evening. At dawn, the production decreases and we wake up. But, the artificial light prolongs the day and the melatonin production is inhibited. Thus, our inner clock is disturbed.
Camping against sleep disturbances
The scientist Kenneth Wright and his team of the University of Colorado, Boulder, recorded the day-night-rhythm of eight grown-ups for one week. They pursued their normal activities. The group of eight spent their time working, studying and had their nights out. They determined themselves the time of going to bed and the amount of sleep. Then, they spent one week in the Rocky’s, camping. They were not allowed to use electric light, smartphones, flashlights and other electrical appliances.
Advantages of a vacation in free nature
The comparison of the two weeks revealed a clear difference: In the first week, the participants went to bed after midnight and got up after 8 a.m., on an average. During this time, they took few advantage of the sunlight but got more light after sunset. The consequence: the biologic clock of the participants was two hours late.
After camping, it was noticeable that the day-night-rhythm adapted to the natural light. At sunset, the release of melatonin was increased. At dawn, the melatonin content decreased. The sleep duration was the same in both weeks. According to the scientist, the sleep quality increases with the adaption of the inner clock.
Of course, very few people can do permanent camping. Furthermore, constant lying on camping mats may become inconvenient and possibly cause back pain. Here are some simple tricks to reach a natural day-night-rhythm:
- Get as much day- and sunlight as possible during the day.
- Avoid artificial light in the evening.
Imagesource: @Hotel Alpin Juwel | Saalbach Hinterglemm | Austria
Source: study (http://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(13)00764-1?_returnURL=http%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0960982213007641%3Fshowall%3Dtrue)
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