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Post by margaretscavarda on Aug 1, 2023 13:20:49 GMT -5
Light pollution has not affected my sleeping patterns directly. I generally receive around 8 hours of sleep each night. I do not reside in downtown Kalamazoo where artificial light is more common. However, my house doesn't have installed air conditioning. Therefore, on hot days I must leave my window slightly open so a gentle breeze blows all night. On these nights, I experience what light pollution has done. The sky outside my window never reaches pitch black. I always catch a glimpse of light creeping into my room. Thankfully, this never bothers me because I don't mind a little light while I sleep. When I travel to rural areas of the country, like, northern Iowa, I notice how much darker the nights are and how clear the sky is. On the contrary, when I visit busy cities like Detroit, the light shines all night. In busier places, I comprehend how constant light can negatively affect a person's sleep schedule.
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Post by Leland Wagner on Aug 3, 2023 18:46:10 GMT -5
I don't think the modern light experiment has affected me that badly. This is because every time I sleep I make sure that my room is pitch black and silent. Though I know when I look outside my bedroom window I can see the light pollution that my town has caused it doesn't affect any aspect of my sleep pattern. But I do know it does affect others that live in cities where its crowded everywhere you look with lights to the point where you cant see any stars. While my sleep schedule is a little messed up due to being away from my school that means I tend to only get around 4-5 hours of sleep. But that isn't caused by any sort of external light interrupting my sleep pattern. No car driving by or motion activated lights affect me during my sleep. While that may be caused by how hard I sleep, I don't think light pollution has affected me.
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Post by Ellie Reeves on Aug 8, 2023 20:14:19 GMT -5
I don't really know how much the modern experiment with light effects me because I don't know what it was like to live when there wasn't this much light at night. I do know that it's really hard to see the stars from my backyard, even harder than it was a year ago because my parents put in some lights in the yard compared to when we camp the stars are way harder to see. As for my sleeping schedule, I don't find that artificial light effects it a lot, I keep my curtains closed and the only time the light bothers me is when our neighbor turns on their light in the room right across from my window. Technology is probably a contributor to less sleep in humans, I've heard it recommended that you shut off technology at least 30 minutes before you go to sleep which I don't do all the time, and when I don't I do find it harder to fall asleep, although I don't if that is considered light pollution, necessarily. I agree with the statements about the difficulty of knowing how the light is impacting us because we don’t have much to compare it to and the lack of stars in the sky at night. One additional thing I have noticed is that this applies primarily to large cities. When in rural areas, it seems like more stars are out because there is less artificial light in the countryside than in big cities with skyscrapers, some of which remain lit up even throughout the night. I, however, do think that artificial light has impacted my sleep schedule. Artificial light allows me to keep my room light on much later than when the sun goes down. In turn this causes me to fall asleep later and get less sleep in general. I agree that technology is a big factor in a worse sleep schedule and I think that it should be considered light pollution because of the artificial light emitted by the screens.
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Post by violetkn on Aug 10, 2023 15:31:35 GMT -5
I would say I get about 8 hours of sleep a night, at least during school. I do think light pollution affects me but not to a high extent. I have noticed that when I am somewhere that offers more complete natural darkness, such as camping, I do sleep better. Although, that could be caused by me being more tired due to activities. Another reason I think light pollution affects my sleep is simply because one of my neighbors windows faces my bedroom window and I can see the light through my blinds, which can wake me up when they leave for work or make it difficult to sleep at night. I also travel to Chicago frequently to visit close friends and family and while we do not stay downtown, I have noticed the light pollution in the city does affect my sleep. Although this could also be caused by not sleeping in my own bed.
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Post by Aubrianna Caldwell on Aug 13, 2023 12:30:09 GMT -5
I typically get around 8 hours of sleep at night and have a pretty normal sleep schedule. The light doesn't really affect me as much because I don't live where light is very prominent and I usually sleep in the complete dark. However, a friend of mine lives in the country and everytime i go over to their house and stay the night it always amazes me how many stars you can see, compared to living in the city. I think that is terribly sad. But the only light that affects my sleeping would be my phone. Whenever I'm on my phone at night it feels as though I can't put it down no matter how tired I am. Once I put the phone down I fall asleep rather quickly. But overall it is a 50/50 with the sleep I get and how refreshed or terrible I feel after waking up.
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Post by izzymorris0715 on Aug 19, 2023 10:12:36 GMT -5
I think light pollution has had an effect on me but since light pollution has been going on for so long I might not have notices its effects. The biggest effect of light pollution that I have seen would be the color of the sky and the decrease in visibility of the stars. If you go to areas that aren’t super busy and don’t have many street lights (think like a rural area) the stars are a lot more visible than they are in cities. I’ve also noticed that at night it doesn’t really get that dark anymore, the sky is more grey than it is black. Though on average I get 8 hours of sleep, the sky being lighter has had an effect on my sleeping habits. Mostly because I won’t want to go to sleep. Even if I am tired i’ll find myself staying up later because of the extra presence of light outside. Light pollution has definitely had an effect on my “Internal clockwork” (240).
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Post by Emerson on Aug 20, 2023 11:14:31 GMT -5
Usually, on average I get about 7-8 hours of sleep a night, and I think that the modern experiment with light pollution has had some effect on me but not as much as people who live major cities where there is always night. I do notice that during times when the night is short and days are longer, I tend to sleep less than when the nights are longer. Because of where I live there is not much artificial light around me that causes me to be affected by it, and if there were there are things I could do to limit the amount of light like blinds and sleep masks. I can see how people in large cities can have their lives affected because of the lights constantly being on and interrupting them, so I think that if I lived there my life would definitely be impacted by light pollution. Using technology before bed can also impact the amount of sleep I get, when I am on them before bed, I lose more sleep than when I do not go on them before bed.
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Post by odessapersephone on Aug 20, 2023 14:07:02 GMT -5
Light pollution has definitely effected me. I currently average somewhere around 5-7 hours of sleep; earlier in the summer I would be up until around 4am in the morning and sleep until 10am. As long as there is still something to do and it's not pitch black outside it's easy for me to stay up late. It's not entirely because of light pollution though, a lot of the time I find the silence and cold of the night to be a more productive time for me and I'm able to get more done because there are less distractions. For the most part, my odd sleep schedule is due to the times I like being awake, but if there weren't light pollution it would be a lot harder for me to stay up late because I couldn't really be out as easily. In general, because it never gets super dark I don't feel like I really need to be asleep; it's kind of like when you wake up and it's rainy so you never see the sun, you're more inclined to go back to bed. Because it never gets truly dark, I don't feel as strong of a pull to sleep. When I can, I take a nap towards the hottest part of the day. I find those hours to be the least productive and enjoyable. To summarize, I'm awake when I like to be awake depending on my schedule, however, light pollution makes it much easier. To get to this point I've definitely treated sleep as an experiment. For school, however, I have to adapt to a more normal schedule or else I wouldn't get enough sleep.
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Post by Maya Alvarez on Aug 21, 2023 14:15:49 GMT -5
From author Verlin Klinkenborg's essay,"Our Vanishing Night", Klinkenborg comments on humanity's lengthening of the daytime, and shortening of the nighttime from light pollution. Saying that people practice this with the light in front of them when it's time for them to sleep, or when the sun is down. I am guilty and so are most people.Although I aim for seven to eight hours of sleep, I know artificial light sources distract, leading to less sleep. Cell phones have become a crucial part of society's communication and entertainment. At night, I find myself winding down for bed either watching some television, or on my phone listening to music or scrolling on social media, or talking to friends. In my night routine, I am surrounded by artificial light. As is the world outside of my house, artificial light is everywhere, on the streets, parking lots, stores, everywhere. Light pollution 100% affects myself and all humans. I think it is useful but comes with cons such as a change to our natural rhythm following the rising and setting of the sun. This can be detrimental to health causing problems like insomnia.
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Post by Zoe Reeves on Aug 22, 2023 15:21:38 GMT -5
For me to sleep it has to be completely dark in my room. On an average night, I get about 7 hours of sleep. Most of the time light pollution is not a problem for me, and when it is maybe my neighbors have their back porch light on to my driveway light being on. These factors can make it difficult for me to fall asleep but I use blackout curtains. Without the curtains, I could say light pollution would have had its bigger effects on me. Also if I lived in a more populated city where there are fewer trees to block the light; like new york where their motto is the city that never sleeps I would experience very little night light and lots of light pollution where blackout curtains might not even help me go to sleep. If I lived in new york I would probably not get a very good sleep probably like 2 hours at a time during the night. This matches my sleep conditions almost perfectly, as I need my room to be completely dark to fall asleep every night. I am also a light sleeper, so if any lights come on I wake up, and same with noise. I’ve struggled with pretty bad insomnia in the past so I have a pretty uniform sleep schedule so that I can get enough sleep, which consists of having a completely dark room, my fan on, and not screen time right before I go to bed. I also agree that if I lived in a bigger city with more noise and lights on 24/7 the experiment would definitely affect my sleep schedule, however, since it is quiet when I go to bed with curtains covering the windows it doesn’t affect me currently. Because I don’t think I would get any sleep in places where it is heavily populated and noisy 24/7, it would be an interesting experiment if someone with similar sleeping conditions were to adapt, and how long would this take? What conditions would have to change? Would heath problems occur without enough sleep and how long until they appear?
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Jisela Albarran-Trujillo
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Post by Jisela Albarran-Trujillo on Aug 24, 2023 20:28:35 GMT -5
I do think that light pollution has an effect on me at night. Having a tv, phone, computer and even just houselights take up most of my sleep at night. Living next to the highway with many cars passing and airplanes arriving at the airport can also disrupt my sleep. Getting 6-8 hours of sleep can be reduced by many hours when I have control over my phone or busy streets outside. Once I wake up it is very difficult for me to fall back asleep soo when I get woken up by noises it makes it harder for me to get a good amount of sleep. Outside my windows all you can see are the cars and streetlights on meaning I only get to see the nightlight full of stars and the moon if i go out of the city. As years go by we upgrade things which could have an even greater effect on us causing us to loose much of our sleep.
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Post by tatummielke on Aug 27, 2023 15:38:22 GMT -5
On average I get up to about 6-9 hours of sleep on a school night and 8-10 hours on weekends. I experience artificial nightlight almost every night, I almost always accidentally fall asleep with my TV on, my tv automatically turns off after around an hour so majority of the night my room is pitch black, minus the street light right outside my window. I do know that It is hard to see a lot of stars outside around my house because a lot of my neighbors have outdoor lighting on almost everyday. When I go camping with my family or to the beach at night the stars look incredible on a clear night, even if it’s cloudy I still see more stars out there than back home when the sky isn’t cloudy. Night light doesn’t affect me much because I don’t necessarily need it to be pitch black in my room to sleep through the night.
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Post by sayanij on Aug 27, 2023 18:27:50 GMT -5
For me personally, I get a consistent amount of hours of sleep each night throughout the year. I try to keep a good 7-8 hour sleep schedule. Night light doesn’t have a big effect on me and my sleep hours because I like to keep the curtains closed and most of the time my neighbors don’t have their backyard light on so even if I didn’t close the curtains, it is mostly dark outside. I would say that because I live a little bit away from the neighborhood and outside is still naturally dark a lot at night it is easier to get sleep at night. I do think that light pollution can cause people who live closer to downtown or in big neighborhoods to have an inconsistent sleep schedule or lose sleep at night. I know some people use the amount of light outside as a signal to go to sleep and wake up. So when there is still lots of light outside at night it can trick them into going to bed later than they should.
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Post by stephanie1garcia on Aug 27, 2023 19:57:16 GMT -5
On average, I get around six to seven hours of sleep so I feel like maybe the shortening of the night might be affecting me. I typically like to use my phone during the daylight, and since the darkness is getting shorter I think I've been using my phone more often causing me to not get much sleep. I remember when I was younger I used to get much more sleep and the daylight would be even as nighttime. I also have my blinds and curtains and try my best to make my room dark so I can sleep more, but most of the time it does not end up working since the sun is getting brighter. However I do not think it is affecting me as much as those who live in actual cities since they have more buildings that have more lights.
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Post by Kelly Garcia on Aug 30, 2023 19:25:34 GMT -5
Light pollution has many effects on humans. High exposure to bright artificial lights during the night may cause sleepless nights. Exposure to artificial light awakens the brain, by reducing the melatonin levels which causes poor sleep. In my own experience I think I have limited many bright artificial lights when going to bed like for example turning off all lights, closing my blinds, and making sure to turn off my phone. From collecting all this evidence it lets me realize all the bad effects it has on me like having a hard time sleeping and not getting the amount of hours I should have per night. In comparing the amount of sleep I get and the amount of night light I experience is not the same I get more rest than night light because as the sun sets down I get more drowsy so I try my have less article lights for me to sleep better.
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