59

Currently, if your eyes are closed you can still get a sense of the light around you, and moving your head around you can tell if you're moving it toward or away from a light source (barring maybe if you're outdoors and it's bright out all around you).

But what if when we closed our eyes it was like full blackout? Would blinking become disorienting? Could it mess up circadian rhythms? Something else? Or would it not really matter?

top 22 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] justlookingfordragon@lemmy.world 36 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

You can see your nose at all times, as it is within your field of vision at all times - but your brain filters it out, so what you actually "see" is a nose-free impression of your surroundings. It works like a movie editor that removes unwanted parts from raw footage before the movie is actually shown to the public.

If blinking were a total blackout for a fraction of a second, I'd wager the human brain would have developed a workaround to delete that / filter it out as well, so you wouldn't even notice a difference.

[-] UncleBadTouch@lemmy.ca 19 points 8 months ago

so what you actually “see” is a nose-free impression of your surroundings

yeah, i wish.

I was gifted a big fat bulbous beak from my parents, it's half my vision!

[-] Aleric@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago

Same. No matter how fast I turn my head, it always seems to move faster!

[-] Drusas@kbin.social 3 points 8 months ago

I've got a narrow nose, and I still notice it all the time.

[-] NegativeInf@lemmy.world 14 points 8 months ago

Already does. Persistence of vision. It's why some seconds seem longer when you look at a clock suddenly. Your brain fills in the missing "frames" with what it thinks should be there.

[-] glimse@lemmy.world 21 points 8 months ago

I'd sleep way better and wouldn't need blackout curtains

[-] Drusas@kbin.social 7 points 8 months ago

But then you wouldn't be able to naturally wake up in the morning, which is best triggered by light much as the release of melatonin is triggered by darkness.

[-] glimse@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago

I don't wake up to the light though

[-] Drusas@kbin.social 4 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

It helps with waking much as darkness does with sleeping, but it similarly is not going to be enough to overcome under sleeping or a sleep disorder.

[-] glimse@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago

Sure but I need help going to (and staying) sleep, not waking up. My natural wake up time is before the sun rises (430-5am)

[-] plistig@feddit.de 5 points 8 months ago

Have you tried abusing prescription drugs?

[-] Drusas@kbin.social -4 points 8 months ago

Interestingly, you note that your natural wake up time is when the sun rises, but don't recognize that it might be because that's when the sun rises.

[-] glimse@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago

Interestingly, I wake up 2 hours before sunrise and noted my use of blackout curtains regardless.

[-] Drusas@kbin.social -3 points 8 months ago

Sounds like you have a relatively healthy sleep-wake schedule.

[-] plistig@feddit.de 4 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Most people need to work in the winter, too. It's still dark outside in the morning either way, whether my eyelids are translucent or not.

[-] Drusas@kbin.social 3 points 8 months ago

You can make it a lot easier to wake up in the winter months by getting a sunlight clock.

[-] astraeus@programming.dev 17 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

I would say most things would not be much different, but circadian rhythm is probably the most relevant part. If your eyes cannot sense sunlight in the morning, ~~your sleep will no longer be affected by daytime hours~~. Edit: your skin can also sense changes in light, it could potentially also detect sunlight in the morning if exposure is strong enough. Thanks @Repelle for the insight! Article: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1389556721000022

Our mind doesn’t really process the time we blink, whether light comes through or not. If we had it happen our entire life, I’m sure we’d probably adapt quickly to having a complete blackout when closing our eyes.

[-] Repelle@lemmy.world 11 points 8 months ago

I vaguely recall a study from well over a decade ago where they used a light patch so that the only change in light for the sleeping participants would be on the skin and showed that circadian rhythm wasn’t dependent (solely, at least) on eyesight. Mind you this is a vague memory from a long time ago so take it with a grain of salt.

[-] astraeus@programming.dev 6 points 8 months ago

Not the article you were thinking of, but reinforces your point. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1389556721000022

Tl;dr, there are light sensors, or at least light energy sensing mechanisms, in our skin.

[-] CarbonatedPastaSauce@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago

There was a study of a guy who lived underground for months with no timekeeping devices. His only contact was with other researchers by telephone, and not often. His sleep schedule and length he’d stay awake got super wonky but he had no idea. So the complete lack of light certainly has an effect.

[-] Drusas@kbin.social 14 points 8 months ago

It would have a negative impact on your sleep-wake cycle, which relies on light and darkness. You would fall asleep more easily but struggle to wake up.

[-] PetDinosaurs@lemmy.world 7 points 8 months ago

Nothing would happen. You blink for a fraction of a second.

Also, note that the eyelids of people with darker skin already pass less light than those of people with lighter skin. (That is the purpose of darker skin)

this post was submitted on 11 Nov 2023
59 points (96.8% liked)

No Stupid Questions

34336 readers
1072 users here now

No such thing. Ask away!

!nostupidquestions is a community dedicated to being helpful and answering each others' questions on various topics.

The rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:

Rules (interactive)


Rule 1- All posts must be legitimate questions. All post titles must include a question.

All posts must be legitimate questions, and all post titles must include a question. Questions that are joke or trolling questions, memes, song lyrics as title, etc. are not allowed here. See Rule 6 for all exceptions.



Rule 2- Your question subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material.

Your question subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material. You will be warned first, banned second.



Rule 3- Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here.

Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here. Breaking this rule will not get you or your post removed, but it will put you at risk, and possibly in danger.



Rule 4- No self promotion or upvote-farming of any kind.

That's it.



Rule 5- No baiting or sealioning or promoting an agenda.

Questions which, instead of being of an innocuous nature, are specifically intended (based on reports and in the opinion of our crack moderation team) to bait users into ideological wars on charged political topics will be removed and the authors warned - or banned - depending on severity.



Rule 6- Regarding META posts and joke questions.

Provided it is about the community itself, you may post non-question posts using the [META] tag on your post title.

On fridays, you are allowed to post meme and troll questions, on the condition that it's in text format only, and conforms with our other rules. These posts MUST include the [NSQ Friday] tag in their title.

If you post a serious question on friday and are looking only for legitimate answers, then please include the [Serious] tag on your post. Irrelevant replies will then be removed by moderators.



Rule 7- You can't intentionally annoy, mock, or harass other members.

If you intentionally annoy, mock, harass, or discriminate against any individual member, you will be removed.

Likewise, if you are a member, sympathiser or a resemblant of a movement that is known to largely hate, mock, discriminate against, and/or want to take lives of a group of people, and you were provably vocal about your hate, then you will be banned on sight.



Rule 8- All comments should try to stay relevant to their parent content.



Rule 9- Reposts from other platforms are not allowed.

Let everyone have their own content.



Rule 10- Majority of bots aren't allowed to participate here.



Credits

Our breathtaking icon was bestowed upon us by @Cevilia!

The greatest banner of all time: by @TheOneWithTheHair!

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS