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| Sunset from the back deck, November 24, 2:25 pm. |
It is becoming more and more obvious that "the long night is coming" (Game of Thrones, for all the not-nerd normies out there). I find myself getting hungry earlier in the afternoon. Clearly my brain has been conditioned to think that a certain amount of darkness means its time to eat. No matter how you slice it though, 3:30pm is NOT time for the last meal of the day.
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| Sunset over the backyard. |
Mornings are, for now, still easy enough. Sunrise is around 8:30, which means the sky starts to brighten around 7:30. The bad news is the kids are still bouncing awake bright and early. The other bad news is they are completely exhausted and thinking its bedtime by 5pm. If we let them go to sleep this early, we'd have bright-eyed and bushy tailed children running around at 4am. So, we deal with "normal" mornings (are mornings ever normal?), and grumpy/hyper/over-tired after-evenings. (Footnote: an after-evening is when the darkness starts just after lunch and keeps going. I coined the term myself. Cute, right?)
One of the problems with the darkness coming so early is that, to make up for it, we tend to turn on all the lights in the house and pull down the shades. "What's the problem with that?", you might be thinking. On the surface, nothing. But having lights switched on nice and bright all afternoon/evening trying to make up for the lack of sun carries its own problems.
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| Captain Jack coming home off the bus in early November. |
In order for our brains to get ready for sleep, we produce a hormone called melatonin. Melatonin production in the brain is triggered by darkness, which usually happens gradually throughout the evening. By keeping our home bright all afternoon and evening, and then suddenly turning everything off (BOOM!) when its time to go to bed, we are expecting our brains to suddenly produce this sleep-inducing hormone like flipping a switch. Our brains don't work that way. So, ironically, you lay awake at night unable to sleep because it has been too bright inside (because it was dark outside) for too long.
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| Sunset over frozen Frobisher Bay. |
So let's say you don't turn all your lights on to chase away the dark, and allow things to happen naturally. This will likely mean that you feel extremely tired around, say, 5pm-- a couple of hours after the sun goes down. That doesn't work for most of us. We push through until a normal time to sleep, at which points our brains may be confused and wide awake again. Melatonin production too early or too late in the day can also lead to Seasonal Affective Disorder. (source)
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| We love this stuff. source |
One solution we are trying is to dim the lights at a predictable time each evening, around 6:30pm. This becomes our artificial "twilight" at home. Screens are turned off for the kids at this time too. We play soft music, and try to induce a feeling of "almost bedtime". Also, Coraline takes melatonin supplements (Captain Jack still knocks out as soon as his head hits the pillow.).
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| Faux daylight. |
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| Faux evening. The difference is less subtle in real life. |
Another issue with the early darkness is a constant, nagging, feeling that you are "late" for something. Oh no, I forgot I told Fargo I'd call him at 7:00! Oh wait, its only 4:00. Oh my gosh! Where are the kids? Oh right, at school. Its only for a split-second, but it is somewhat unsettling.
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| View from the backyard looking across the lake to the city. |
So, they go a little stir-crazy during the week. Our rule on the weekend is "No TV or other screen time while the sun is shining". Unless it is frost-bite cold, the kids bundle up in their parkas and snow pants and play outside.
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| Out on the tundra playing. |
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| An early photo of the fort before the snow fell. |
Next up: Gosh! What do you guys want to learn about? How many know what an amauti is? Do you want to find out? Show of hands please!
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