The great outdoors is actually pretty great for your sleep schedule, a new study found.
Researchers from the University of Colorado studied the effects natural and electronic light have on sleep cycles and found increased exposure to natural light promotes better sleep patterns and circadian rhythms.
Five subjects of the study were given wearable devices that measured when they regularly woke up, went to sleep and how much light they normally got. Melatonin, the hormone that regulates sleep, was also measured.
Then researchers sent them camping for a week. Not for s’mores or sing-alongs, but to see how much better their sleep patterns got when bunking under the stars.
The researchers found internal clocks were delayed by almost three hours during their normal schedules compared to when they only exposed to natural light during the camping trip. Higher melatonin levels were also observed.
During a second phase of the study, the researchers measured what happened when part of the group went camping for just a weekend and the others stayed home.
Those that stayed home mostly stayed up later in the night and slept later in the day, pushing their internal clocks even farther back. However, campers on the weekend trip saw their internal clocks shift earlier.
Camping to get your sleep schedule back on track is pretty inconvenient so researchers suggest exposing yourself to more light in the morning, cutting down on electrical light from phones and TVs in the evening and keeping dim lights in the house.
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