Dark mode has been activated, and not just on your phone (a recap for technophobes: the latest iOS and Android updates include a feature that switches glaring white backgrounds to dark grey and pitch-black tones).
We all hailed that extra hour in bed over the weekend but today the longer-term realities of the clocks going back kick in: the end of British summertime means ever-narrowing spells of sunlight and months ahead of leaving work in the dark — no more forgetting your bike lights.
The universal reaction is to swap the-dark-is-so-depressing grumbles with colleagues and go into hibernation-mode until March but going back to black doesn’t mean you have to feel blue: embracing the darkness can have a surprisingly bright side.
Yulia Kovaleva, founder of the capital’s first meditation studio, Re:Mind, in Belgravia, insists she finds herself more active, productive and happier during the darker periods of the year. “In summer I always feel sluggish and under pressure to have a good time,” says Kovaleva, who keeps her studio dimly-lit with candles and Himalayan salt lamps to help clients unwind. “In winter I’m generally calmer and have better energy for socialising.”
It’s also a more introspective time of year, “a time where you can come back into yourself and allow your creativity and ideas to flow”. The idea for her drop-in meditation concept was devised over winter and the whole thing was built during the darker months when she had more energy and time to focus.
The key to beating the blues, she says, is to shift the day forwards — and nutritionist Rob Hobson agrees. His book, The Art Of Sleeping, comes out next month and explores this idea of resetting your body clock to maximise the natural light you get during the day, whether that’s waking up an hour earlier or swapping your lunchtime spin class for a run in the park.
“This helps to boost your mood and makes you feel more energised,” writes Hobson — plus it brings a welcome opportunity for wholesome nights in and winding down earlier, agrees aromatherapist Annee de Mamiel, creator of a sleep series treatment at The Ned.
For her, darker evenings are an excuse to come home earlier, cook nourishing, warm meals in the slow cooker and spend quality time with family or flatmates before getting more (and better) sleep.
She recommends using candles and softer lighting to start the winding-down process, then trying a skincare ritual or some meditation “to slow the rhythms of our body”.
Darkness itself is the perfect ingredient for meditation, says Kovaleva, “it calms the nervous system down and helps achieve certain different states of consciousness”. Most of her meditation classes use eye pillows or masks to block off light and relax the eyes, then her Re:Heal Reiki sessions invite clients to visualise their own inner light — a healing technique you can try at home to boost energy.
When it comes to sleep, set a personal tech curfew, says Hobson. Sleeping for eight to nine hours in total darkness lowers our risk of heart disease, reduces cravings and boosts mood, so keep blue light to a minimum and switch your device to dark mode a few hours before bed to help you nod off and make the screen easier on the eyes.
It’s not just iOS 13 and Android 10 that let you turn the lights out on your phone, Facebook recently rolled it out on Messenger and Instagram (Taylor Swift revealed she uses it on her Stories), Twitter just made “lights out” mode even darker on Android and this week Google announced that dark mode is coming to Gmail and Google Maps so you can dim the lights on desktop too.
At the least, it’ll save you power — techsperts recently found dark mode boosted battery life by 30 per cent. Energy-saving for you and your tech, then — embrace the dark side.
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