How to Embrace the Benefits of Darkness

Most people reflexively turn on a light when they can’t see. Dark exposure invites you to instead settle in and feel your body adapt.

By Michelle Levy
Aug 19, 2023 5:00 PM
GettyImages-1434658323
After 30 minutes immersed in a low-light setting, humans experience the Purkinje shift, when the eyes dilate and become more sensitive to motion. (Credit: Steve-Goacher/iStock via Getty Images)

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This story was originally published in our Sept/Oct 2023 issue as "Embracing the Darkness." Click here to subscribe to read more stories like this one.


Night falls in the Black Rock Forest in Cornwall, New York. I walk the path to the reservoir without a flashlight. Even though a new moon shines brightly, the trees shroud the forest floor. I tread lightly to avoid falling off the trail into the brook, where bullfrogs croak and peepers peep. In the shadowy woods, a pair of eyes twinkles between the shrubbery. I sense what I hope is a deer tracking me; this is black bear territory, after all.

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