Go camping sleep better

Go Camping, Sleep Better

Article by: Allen Macartney

Rating: ****

This article talks about a study performed by students at the University of Colorado in which they studied and compared melatonin (a hormone which helps humans sleep at night and can be produced with more effectiveness with no light surrounding the sleeper) levels in subjects who spent a week camping with no artificial light versus a week in the city which is filled with street lights, signs, cell-phones, computers and all types of electronics that produce light.

 The results showed that melatonin levels were much higher when they were needed in the people that were camping compared to the people in the city. Thus proving that camping promotes better, more natural sleep.

This article has affected me by rethinking any of my sleep problems, whether it be having trouble waking up or not sleeping at all. It has taught me that artificial light greatly affects how I sleep at night and this makes me want to spend some time in the outdoors. This will change how I sleep since I usually have light coming into my room via open curtains and street lights, from now on i will close the curtains to attempt to block out the artificial light.

Macartney, Allen. "Go Camping, Sleep Better". Ottawa Outdoors Fall 2013: page 5. Print.