Good question. I can sleep through either pretty well to be honest; when I want to drop, I drop. Used to be a time when darkness trumped all but my room has a glow to it now because of electronics and what not that I can sleep through. It's still easier to sleep facing away from all the lights though. I have mastered over the years to sleep through any amount of noise, that isn't really a factor for me.
So even though I can sleep through most anything, if I had to choose I would say darkness is the bigger of the two factors, though I certianly wouldn't say it's the biggest factor when it comes to me being able to get to sleep.
Silence. It`s 6:30 am and I probably won`t be going to bed for another few hours, so light isn't that big a deal. What fucks me over is when the other people I live with turn on the TV or start talking. I can`t help but focus my mind on trying to hear what`s going on down the hall and I can`t shut my brain off to sleep.
Darkness. I almost prefer if there's a little bit of ambient noise (which makes living near a highway okay) but I will struggle to sleep if there's a bit too much light.
Silence. And when I say silence, I mean it very literally. There are no clocks in my house because the ticking would keep me up. Sharing a bed can be a nightmare if she breathes too heavily. And the slightest out-of-place sound will disturb me in an instant. I'm probably the lightest sleeper I know, and have a very irregular sleeping pattern. From the age of 12 my family had to start booking me a separate hotel room to sleep in by myself, because I'd be awake all night if I tried sharing a room with them. When I do get married, I may have to look into some sort of sleep therapy or my lovely bride might find herself waking up alone most days. It's one of those things I've been meaning to attend to, but constantly delay.
But light itself isn't an issue, I can happily sleep during the day. That's why I'm often up throughout the night, like right now.
Hm, I'd say I would need silence more than darkness. It bugs me if I can hear my laptop fan etc or anything bumping around outside my room. I'm a pretty light sleeper so I wake to noise very easily.
Darkness. I fall asleep listening to music each night so unless it's really loud, I can sleep just fine. I can also sleep when there's light (from the TV or, say, a streetlight), but I just prefer it to be dark.
I fell asleep standing on a packed bus once. When I woke up I was sitting down, the bus was completely empty, it was at my stop and the doors were open.
Also, I find the rain to be a great accompaniment to sleep.
Silence. It`s 6:30 am and I probably won`t be going to bed for another few hours, so light isn't that big a deal. What fucks me over is when the other people I live with turn on the TV or start talking. I can`t help but focus my mind on trying to hear what`s going on down the hall and I can`t shut my brain off to sleep.
Yeah, you're on the same schedule as me. I'm sorry. lol
I can fall asleep with my music blasting on all cylinders from my stereo but I prefer it to be dark so my eyes don't get distracted by things in the environment (ever analyzed the shape of a tree or something while trying to fall asleep?^^).
A different thing that would've been a more interesting option: warmth! I have to feel warm, either with sunlight or a nice blanket. The other two matter way less.
i just need to be tired, noise can be a little distracting but i can still fall asleep if im tired enough, light level doesnt matter to me at all when it comes to sleeping
Darkness. I hate when the light is on, but if it's on and I'm half asleep, I don't really care too much. I'm used to hearing things when I try to sleep 'cause I often sleep during the day. And now, I will be especially since someone just had tried to break in. It's 3:00 AM and I have a few lights on and I'm watching Full House, kind of. The only time sound bothers me is if someone really turns the bass up. Actually, I guess it all really depends on when I fall asleep. If it's during the day, anything can go and I'll still be fine. If it's during the night, and hearing sounds I'm unfamiliar with can bother me, and light is rarely on other than a few.
A different thing that would've been a more interesting option: warmth! I have to feel warm, either with sunlight or a nice blanket. The other two matter way less.
I'll agree with that in winter, but only to the point of comfort. If it's too hot, I'll do anything I can to keep cool. Hence the "Do you turn over your pillow for the cool side?" question.
A different thing that would've been a more interesting option: warmth! I have to feel warm, either with sunlight or a nice blanket. The other two matter way less.
I'll agree with that in winter, but only to the point of comfort. If it's too hot, I'll do anything I can to keep cool. Hence the "Do you turn over your pillow for the cool side?" question.
haha awesome, I do that too! (turn the pillow for the cool side^^)
I need silence and coolness. I'm a shift worker so the time of day doesn't bother me but any irregular noise and I wake. Hence I jam ear plugs in when I'm off nights. Can be pretty annoying in the summer and the kids are off school.
I don't need either, but silence (or music) is preferable. One thing that helps me sleep better than anything else is a cold room and a thick blanket. That feeling when you first bundle up and the chill dissipates is glorious.
Darkness. I run an air conditioner and fan, along with the TV on a sleep timer so I can enjoy Spongebob while I sleep, so noise isn't too bad, but I need to be dark and cold.
When I used to live with my roommate from Tajikistan it was hell because he was really loud in his language. Sadly he used to talk with his familly durnig nights thanks to different timezones. I couldnt sleep for weeks untill I got used to nightlife and started going out at 3 a.m to take walks and stuff.
Neither. A complete lack of electronic presences is what I need to be able to achieve a truly restful sleep. If I have the computer on or the PS3, or the TV, or some form of glowing lights (the one on my external soundcard is a big culprit here, it's blue and ridiculously bright at night considering how small it is,) or something, I have huge amounts of trouble sleeping. It's like I can feel the electricity resonating throughout the room and it bothers me to no end.
I can deal with non-specific noises from outside my room, like traffic, loud neighbours etc. Can't handle any noise from inside my room, especially if I know what the source is. Light-wise, I pull the cable from the 360 power adapter to kill the orange light, unplug routers/ethernet switches, pull the power cable from my desktop PC (ethernet port orange and green lights plus motherboard power LED), fuss with curtains and generally freakout over even the slightest light source. Seriously considering black-out curtains.
I have even been kept awake by the power light on my closed macbook pulsing on and off, even though it was in a closed bag. I could see the light through the zip.
Darkness, although they're both very important to me. I live on a main road and have for most of my life, so I've grown to be able to fall asleep with heavy traffic. Some nights I'll unplug my 360 power brick just because of that dull orange light it gives off.
I like the hum of a fan I run year round to help me get to sleep (and with the winter in new england a running fan is noticeably odd). My sleeping area can never be too dark. Darkness. But really I like the room to be a certain temperature more than either of those things. Not too hot, not too cold. More cold than hot.
I like it dark. I like a little noise in the room that's why I always have a fan running. I can take a nap on my couch with the tv on, but all the shades are drawn. I live like a crackhead.
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