The Light of the Great Outdoors
American adults don’t sleep enough: On the average work night, we come up 30-90 minutes short of what our bodies need for long-term health, according to a poll by the National Sleep Foundation.
Maybe we should go camping more often.
Recent research by CU Ƶ sleep experts Ellen Stothard and Kenneth Wright show that exposure to the natural light and total darkness available outdoors helps reset our internal clocks in as little as two days — a weekend camping trip. By resetting our clocks, we get a chance to establish a more satisfying sleep pattern back at home.
Information from: Kenneth Wright study, “Circadian Entrainment to the Natural Light-Dark Cycle across Seasons and the Weekend,” published in Current Biology; CDC; the National Sleep Foundation; the American Sleep Association