How Camping May Help You Sleep Better in the Long Run

Night owls struggling to go to sleep at night and wake up for work the next morning might do best packing up and spending a week under the stars, according to a new report published in the journal Current Biology.

Led by Kenneth Wright of the University of Colorado Boulder, the study showed that a week of exposure to a natural dawn, complete darkness at night and dusks lit only by the glow of a campfire has the capacity to revert a person's sleeping schedule to a more natural one.

"By increasing our exposure to sunlight and reducing our exposure to electrical lighting at night, we can turn our internal clock and sleep times back and likely make it easier to awaken and be alert in the morning," Wright said.

In carrying out the study, Wright and his colleagues first studied the internal circadian timing of eight adults after one week of routine work, school, social activities and self-selected sleeping schedules with the normal exposure to electrical lighting.

They then took those same people out camping in Colorado with strict restrictions on the light-producing objects that were allowed, including flashlights and smartphones. Once again, the individuals were allowed to go to bed and wake up whenever they wanted.

In doing so, the researchers found that a typical, modern environment results in something of a two-hour delay in the circadian clock as indicated by fluctuations in the hormone melatonin, generally with people staying up until after midnight and rising around 8:00 in the morning.

However, after a week of natural lighting, all measures of circadian timing shifted two hours back, with sleep schedules following quickly behind.

The findings, the scientists hypothesize, may explain an observed paradox in brain arousal.

In today's modern world, melatonin levels tend to decrease to daytime levels about two hours after individuals waking up, meaning their biological night extends past their waking time. This, the scientists explain, is a significant reason as to why many feel the sleepiest soon after getting up. However, with exposure to natural light, that decrease in melatonin shifts to the last hour of sleep time, causing earlier brain arousal and likely helping people feel more alert in the morning.

While camping may not be an option for everyone, there are a few changes in behavior that are, the researchers say.

"Our findings suggest that people can have earlier bed and wake times, more conducive to their school and work schedules, if they were to increase their exposure to sunlight during the day and decrease their exposure to electrical lighting at night," Wright said.