Night lighting for anxiety

[LarryH3]

Lately, I've been having a spike in anxiety and insomnia because I can't get my brain to slow down so I can sleep. Also, I'm afraid of the dark, probably because of something that happened to me in childhood. My first answer when someone asked why I'm afraid of the dark was "You can't see your enemy coming at you." But the second part of that is, a dark room makes a great theater for your brain to play any kind of horror film it wants, which I can clear by opening my eyes if there's ambient light.

I found leaving my TV on gives a soothing blue glow to the room that I found soothing, but that is an expensive night light (power consumption too). So, looking at various "mood light" options, I'm having difficulty finding one that won't be a pain to use.

Here's what I need at its most basic:

Plugs into the wall (backup battery optional)
Remembers settings (color and brightness) so I don't have to fidget with it every time.
Brightness should be adjustable to dim down to a low subtle glow to lighting the whole room.
A timer would be optional, but it should be able to left on all night
Low power consumption (LED)
A light specifically designed for this purpose would be better than a "party light".

Anyone use anything like this? If so, what brand / model do you use.
The ones I've been seeing on Amazon so far have unacceptable flaws such as not being able to plug it and use it, forgetting settings every time you shut it off, etc.

Thanks!

 

[Brad66]

I can't really give any advice on nightlights but I too have problems getting my brain to shut off at night. Recently though I came upon a techique that is used in the US Navy training to help soldiers under extreme stress fall asleep quickly and it's simple. You count down backwards from 300 and try to visualize the numbers while you do it.

I was skeptical but I have been using it and having pretty good success. On the nights that I am super anxious it doesn't work bc my brain just forgets about the counting I am doing but on nights where I might have just one or the things on my mind keeping me from sleeping it works wonders.

I usually fall asleep before I even get out of the 300s.

I suggest trying it. What do you have to lose?

 

[LarryH3]

I wanted to update you as to what my current night lighting solution is. I've been using an old Philips Wake Up Light to help me wake up in the morning, and it was time for me to upgrade to an energy saving LED version, so I got the Philips HF3520: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0093162RM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 If you get one, don't go for the cheap ones, because they all have annoying defects such as no backup battery, alarms you can't disable, etc. (Read the reviews to see what you can put up with if you want to go cheap.) This is the best of the bunch as far as I'm concerned. In the morning, it will gradually start to turn on, like the sun coming up to a brightness you select, starting from red and going to full yellow. (I set it to go full blast because it takes a lot to get me up, and of course, have never seen it start to turn on.)

Anyway, you can also set it to simulate a sunset at night, by setting a low light level, and a time to turn off, which it does very gradually. (I set it to fade out in 60 minutes and so far, I have not stayed awake long enough to see how it fades out!)

Then, for general ambience, I bought a 4-pack of blue night lights, and have one in each outlet. When I read complaints that people think they're too bright for night lights, I realized these are what I need! Amazon: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B077X48B8Q/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1 The lights come in a variety of colors. Some people prefer blue (usually male, myself included, from what I've read), and some people (mostly female, but everyone is different) may find oranges or other warm colors more soothing.

Anyway, I have lots of upcoming doctor visits and anxiety inducing unknowns about my health right now (which I hope is just my life long medical anxiety), and this helps me get to sleep, mostly without medication.

Hopefully this helps someone in a similar situation. I hate sleeping with the lights on all night, and this helps me.