HEALTH MATTERS - SLEEP AND DARKNESS

How darkness influences sleep

Well, long story cut short.

Darkness is essential to sleep. The absence of light sends a critical signal to the body that it is time to rest. Light exposure at the wrong times alters the body's internal "sleep clock"—the biological mechanism that regulates sleep-wake cycles—in ways that interfere with both the quantity and quality of sleep.
Melatonin, a hormone produced in the brain's pineal gland (which is usually being calcified by fluoride ingestion from drinking water, processed food and toothpaste), perhaps done on purpose,
is often known as the "sleep hormone" or the "darkness hormone." Melatonin influences sleep by sending a signal to the brain that it is time for rest. Melatonin levels naturally rise during the early evening as darkness falls and continue to climb throughout most of the night, before peaking at approximately 3 a.m. Levels of melatonin then fall during the early morning and remain low during much of the day.

Why We Need To Sleep In Total Darkness

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The modern bedroom is full of lights, from glowing computer monitors and clock radios to any number of blinking and glimmering electronic devices. These chronic exposure to light at night leads to a host of health problems.

Remember melatonin, which is secreted by the pineal gland, is the messenger that announces bedtime to our brains. Darkness stimulates its release into the bloodstream; while light inhibits it.

Therefore Melatonin suppression is key to understanding much of why Light at night is so bad for us. This workhorse biochemical is produced by the brain's pineal gland at night — when it's dark — to regulate our sleep-wake cycle.
Light at night unnaturally elevates cortisol levels at night, which disrupts sleep and introduces a host of neurological and biological problems. But if our rooms are dark at night, there's no optic signal to the brain, so our bodies pump out the much needed melatonin. Moreover, our melatonin levels are regulated according to the amount of exposure we had to light during the previous day.

Hormone and biochemical disruption which is caused by melatonin suppression has been found to have downstream effects like cancer, disruption of the immune system, inducing depression-like symptoms, impair mood and learning, premature aging, heart problems and weight gains to name a few.

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You might want to think about this next time you leave even the dimmest lights on in your bedroom — including your clock radio and the light that bleeds in from street lights.
All the research points to one basic fact: We need to keep our bedrooms as dark as possible and avoid blue light before sleep. To that end, you should turn off all your light-emitting gadgets and close the blinds. And if possible, refrain from reading your tablet computer or smartphone in the hours preceding sleep.
Of course it is easier said than done.

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This post has been summarised based on references below, omitting much medical technical terminology and expanded explanation for a quick and easy read.
For further details you might want to follow the links below or google for more:

References:
http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/melatonin-hormone-its-functions-and-properties
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/van-winkles/the-dark-side-of-melatoni_b_8855998.html
http://sleep.mysplus.com/library/category2/article1.html
https://io9.gizmodo.com/why-we-need-to-sleep-in-total-darkness-1497075228

Finally, just to mention here. The pine’al (pineal) gland is the size of a pea and shaped like a pine cone, hence the name pine’al gland, located at the midbrain and is believed to be associated with a symbolic representation of Human Enlightenment or state of Higher Consciousness.

I stumbled upon this picture below where there is a symbolic giant pine cone in the courtyard surrounded by official buildings of the government of the Vatican.