You come home after a long, tiring work day. Before going to bed, you turn off the bathroom lights and go in for a warm shower. With amber light emitting from candles on the shelf and the patter of the water droplets, the mind and body slowly align to a heightened sense of awareness. As calming as this sounds, this showering ritual is not only about feeling good in a carefully set-up ambience. Social media says that ‘Dark showering’—taking a shower in dim or no lighting—helps relax the nervous system.
Divya Manhas, an Ayurveda-inspired wellness coach, explains. “The idea is not to go completely dark but to dim the lights, fire up some candles, and create an effect.” Dim lighting does more than just make the shower feel more like a spa—it creates a low visual stimulus environment and acts as a counter to exposure to the artificially produced blue light which significantly impacts vision and brain health throughout the day. Manhas, a yoga coach at Zaazen Wellness, Delhi, says, “Dark showering—with its blend of soft lighting and the feel of water—leads to a cathartic release after a long day.”
Dr Ruta Savaj Shah, a neurologist from Surat, Gujarat, scientifically explains, “The suprachiasmatic nucleus in the brain is sensitive to light and adjusts the body clock. Hence, morning exposure to light makes the brain active while the darkness at night signals the brain to resort to the rest mode. So showers in the dark may slightly increase this effect of calmness and relaxation.”
However, is dark showering a complete solution for reducing stress? Experts disagree. Dr Shah mentions, “Both—showers and darkness have revitalising effects on the mind separately; combining them sounds fancy but scientifically results in nothing deeply impactful. Dark showering may help but is not a magic pill to calm the nervous system.” Manhas asserts, “It is not a clinically proven cure of a broken nervous system or high stress,” adding “It is like going for a walk amidst nature. While it cannot reduce stress on its own, it can positively impact the process.”
While everyone can try dark showering, Manhas says that its impact is subjective and suggests people with clinical anxiety or depression to be cautious as instead of calming them, it can leave them overwhelmed in a new setting alone with their thoughts. “People with claustrophobia and nyctophobia should avoid this as the dark bathroom can create more discomfort than calmness for them. Dr Ruta adds that older people who are prone to falling must refrain from dark showers.
People have been consciously or unconsciously “dark showering” since ever. It has only become a social media trend now, which might also pass very soon.