"Cover up your alarm clock," I instructed my partner as we were preparing to go to sleep. The clock's face glowed so brightly one could almost read by it.
He laughed, reminding me that I never switch the light on in the bathroom at night, instead leaving the door open to catch dimmer outdoor light and foresaking auditory privacy. As with most of my eccentricities (yeah, yeah, the Manhattan bicycling habit aside), this one can be traced to a neurotic desire to shave some percentage points off my risk of a miserable death. There is evidence to suggest that light at night raises the risk of certain types of cancer.
Joining the long list of seemingly benign things that raise your risk of cancer (peanut butter, fried carbs, night shifts, among others) is light pollution at night. Even through closed eyelids, the brain and pineal gland appear to sense the light, and the nightly release of the hormone melatonin is powerfully suppressed. Melatonin is "oncostatic," meaning it can help suppress tumor growth, so switching it off just so you don't have to grope for the toilet paper roll seems like a bad idea. Interestingly, cancer rates are higher in night-shift workers.
"What about moonlight?" my friend sensibly asked. "Did we evolve to sleep completely out of sight of the full moon?"
I wasn't sure how to respond to that. Maybe early humans draped kittens over their eyes. Until we figure it out, I'll keep using a sleep mask. What the hell--I already look like a cavewoman when I sleep.
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