How To Make Your Room Pitch Black

[slowtraveler]

I've had difficulty sleeping. Likely due to the shitty curtains I keep encountering here. I'm thinking of how to make my room pitch black. I could:

1) Buy and double sew black out curtains + tacs

2) Same with thick cloth + tacs

3) Duct tape aluminum foil to the perimeter of the window.

3 is what I'm leaning most towards. I've heard some people recommend to use a cardboard frame to tape it to but I think the pure foil+ tape will be fine. It will also lower the ambient room temperature as an added bonus. Does anybody have experience here?

[BRUTE]

not completely pitch black, but regular black out curtains work pretty well. some light does come through on the sides.

[theanimal]

Sleeping mask

[prognastat]

Blackout roller shades with side and sill tracks. Your bedroom will be pitch black.

[Riggerjack]

Back in my shift work phase of my career, I blacked out my bedroom.

I bought a sheet of 2 inch styrofoam insulation, cut it to the right size to fit the window sill, used a spray adhesive to affix cloth to it and some cloth straps for handles.

This way, I would come home, close the windows in the summer, push the foam insert into place, and sleep in darkness. When I got up, I would pull the foam plug out of the window, and get the light and ventilation a bedroom needs while I was away. Maybe 15 seconds to make the change.

The fabric keeps the foam from shedding pellets, and makes the edges wear down far less. Also, the fabric handles allow a tight friction fit, and easy removal. For reference, I was filling a 3 foot by 8 foot window.

That the room heated slower in the summer, and cooled less I the winter was just a bonus.

[slowtraveler]

Some good ideas here. I've done sleeping masks but those are off the table, the room itself pitch black is much better for me.

Low time here is a factor so an expensive or highly customized solution is harder. I've ended up using a thick blanket dpuble folded over one small window with tape and foil taped on the other someone as the solution so far. It has helped a huge amount. At night, cannot see my hand next to my face. In day time, looks darker than it used to at night.

[BRUTE]

sounds great. slowtraveler should report back if it helps sleep, maybe after a week or so?

[prognastat]

I definitely can vouch for sleeping better when it's pitch black myself.

When I was visiting family I was staying in my bedroom that I slept in growing up which has blackout rollers with side and sill tracks and I slept like a baby.

Not that I usually sleep that badly anyway, but I slept even better than usual. Though the relaxed atmosphere and not working might have helped some too.

[Stahlmann]

I started experimenting with taping my mouth before sleeping some time ago, but I'm very inconsistient.

Probably first time in my life when I was able to focus on my breath and got the idea of meditation. Tangentially it improved quality of my sleep.

Highly recommended, but do it on your own risk.

[SustainableHappiness]

Tinfoil worked best for me and DW when we've worked nights at a couple stretches in our lives. We also don't hang out in the bedroom very often as a spot to do anything but bedroom stuff. I can see why you'd want a more easily removed solution if you do work in your bedroom, or hang out in it during the day, because putting up and removing the tinfoil multiple times would be annoying (and potentially wasteful) and artificial light all the time is bleh.

[Nomad]

I have blackout curtains and blackout blinds, it is dark enough.

[leecalvin]

Do you do shift work? Are you getting up with the sun? I'm just wondering if your sleeping schedule is aligned with your natural circadian rhythm or not. I think melatonin production is triggered in part (in whole?) by light entering your eyes, a simple sleeping mask should work to block it.

How dark your room is might not be the only thing contributing to your sleeping problems though. I would suggest eating more foods with tryptophan to aid in natural production of serotonin and consequently melatonin.

Other than that I would work on stress reduction and other things like avoiding blue-violet light a few hours before bedtime.