AT HOME WITH THE HOMELESS: The necessity of adequate sleep

By Andrew Williams on September 2, 2023

“Never ascribe conditions to villainy that simply result from stupidity.” –Robert A. Heinlein (paraphrased), Logic of Empire

Sleep is one of the essential needs for humans to function. It is, as the Bard wrote in his Macbeth, what “knits up the raveled sleeve of care.” Lack of sleep, or fractured sleep, can have numerous health effects including depression, weight gain, irritability, heart disease, decreased productivity, glandular imbalances and so forth. I’m not going to quote any of the considerable amount of scientific evidence that supports this because anyone with computer access who can do a Google search will find the same information.

Back in the day, shelters were notorious for having this one strict rule regarding their use: you were expected to show up by a given time every night and be out in the morning, usually at the crack of dawn. Fortunately, less rigid and less religious thinking has led to increased flexibility: there is still an evening curfew, but exceptions are made for work and health requirements, and you are not “turfed out” at sunrise. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t still problems.

Some shelters still retain some of that inflexibility regarding time. Since the world is basically run by day people, the presumption is that everyone should be on their schedule, whereas genetic and anthropological research has shown that there are people who by dint of their genes and other factors do better at night. A good thing for our ancestors, because some- body needed to guard the cave against predators while its residents slept.

When the lights are turned on at full intensity at sunrise, that will benefit those early risers who need to get to work and deficit those who might have trouble getting to sleep and could use a few more hours. So where’s the harm? Reread the first paragraph.

Think of “lights on” at 5 am as the visual equivalent of “Reveille.” Once light is introduced into the environment, the brain automatically stops producing melatonin, the neurochemical that regulates and induces sleep. It doesn’t matter if the light source is natural or artificial: your eyes don’t know or care. If the lights are bright enough, it will wake you up, sleep masks and other light barriers notwithstanding. And while you might (and hopefully will) be able to go back to sleep, fractured sleep is defined as two or more wakings within a sleep period. Even one interruption is enough to throw off normal and especially sensitive individuals.

So what? So everything. If you don’t have proper sleep, you can’t think or concentrate well. This can impair your life at every level, making it difficult to focus on executive tasks: finding a job, keeping a job, finding housing, making appointments for needed self-care, and so on. In other words, the very things you need to do to get out of a homeless shelter and back to independent living.

Does that sound self-defeating to you? It is. And the remedy is simple: adjust the lighting so it comes up gradually during the day. This can be done very simply using rheostats (dimmer switches) or more complexly with computer-controlled lighting. And if you don’t need light during the day because enough natural sunlight is coming in, you have the option of turning off any and all artificial light sources.

Using common sense will allow the early birds to get going on time and allow those on different sleep schedules to get the needed amount of rest. The kids call that a win-win. So what’s stopping this simple plan from implementation? Tradition. Early to bed, early to rise. The early bird gets the worm. Light a candle, curse the darkness. Western culture is replete with examples of day people thinking. God forbid anyone should sleep past 8 AM!

It’s time to get over this old way of thinking. We don’t all enjoy the same foods, or the same music, or the same books, magazines, TV shows, and social media. It stands to reason that we don’t all go to sleep and wake up at the same time. So why not accommodate that in society at every level? Embrace the fact that some people work harder and better at night, whereas others do their best work and thinking during the day. Infinite diversity in infinite combinations. Variety is the spice of life. Put out a candle, bless the darkness.

Better days are coming…if we work for them.