Задание №63796 ЕГЭ по Английскому языку

Hello darkness, my old friend

It’s that time again. The clocks have gone back and many of us are reaching for the lamps, vitamin D supplements and carb-heavy one-pots to get us through the long, dark nights of winter. However, there is indeed another way to approach the change of season.

So, what if we embrace the darkness? We might feel sleepier in the winter, and that’s okay. Rather than viewing this as problematic, we can see the darker season as an opportunity to lean in to rest, go to bed earlier and, when possible, sleep longer. It seems like the key to enjoying the darkness isn’t to banish it by turning on as many lights as possible: it’s to turn the lights down low and invite the darkness in. This was a practice I observed everywhere in Norway — restaurants and cafés had low lighting and plenty of candles, and even lunch breaks and meetings could be conducted by candlelight.

Darkness can be soothing and healing. Think about those sleepy evenings when you flick off your bedside lamp and give yourself up to the delicious darkness. Our bodies heal and grow in the dark while we sleep. Dreams come, and help us process emotions we might not even realize we’re experiencing. Our circadian rhythms, or body clocks, are triggered not just by light, but also the lack of it. To optimize your sleep, you want to keep it as dark as possible with as few distractions as possible. We know there are health implications to having constantly interrupted sleep. It’s associated with things like cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and increased cancer risk.

A study at Harvard University found that blood sugar levels increase when you’re exposed to light at night. Artificial sources of blue light, such as smartphones and similar devices, are thought to have the same stimulating effect on our bodies as daylight. Another study in 2017 saw researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder take a group of volunteers camping, away from city lights and without smartphones or torches. Campfire was the only additional light permitted. The study found that the camping trip ‘reset’ the volunteers’ body clocks, with people sleeping and waking in time with their circadian rhythms.

Like many animals, humans’ natural sleep-wake cycle evolved in sync with the pattern of day and night. And just as morning light stimulates alertness, and supports immune function and mental health, the body also responds to the dark. For example, melatonin (aka the Dracula hormone) is produced by the pineal gland in direct response to darkness.

In the Colorado study, the campers began to produce melatonin two hours earlier. Melatonin is associated with opening the ‘sleep gate’. It begins the process of winding down and getting ready for sleep. It’s also the subject of research into a range of health conditions. The picture is incomplete, but higher levels of melatonin are associated with a lower risk of heart disease and certain cancers.

Humans have known for a long time that banishing the dark from our lives has a powerful effect. Continuous light has long been used as a method of torture. However, we need both light and dark, and we need them at the right times. If we’re suffering from darkness deficiency, switching to a permanent dark mode isn’t the answer, either. Research shows that night-shift workers and others confined to darkness have a higher risk of diseases including diabetes, heart disease and obesity.

Even though winter can be a difficult time of year, it has a lot to offer us. It challenges us to be better by encouraging us to rest in its prolonged darkness, reflect, and be patient for the coming year. Its starkness forces us to look inward and take stock of who we are and what we want. Really embracing and living in that energy of the season can make a world of difference – we go from fighting against it, and wanting it to be over, to really living in the present moment with it.