Key Takeaways
Showering in low light turns a basic routine into a calming ritual by reducing stimulation and helping your body shift from a busy day into a more restful state.
Experts say dimming the lights while you shower may ease stress, quiet racing thoughts, boost mindfulness, and even support better sleep when done before bed.
While it’s trending on social media, dark showering echoes long-standing bathing traditions around the world that use soft lighting to encourage relaxation, reflection, and connection.
Taking a shower is already one of the humblest but most fulfilling self-care acts. The warm water cascading down your back, the scent of your favorite shampoo or body wash doing its work, the way your mind settles. Who knew that flipping the light switch to take a shower in the dark could level up the experience? In recent months, the “dark showering” trend has surged across social media as more people give it a go and realize it’s actually kind of powerful.
Meet Our Expert
Nidhi Pandya, a NAMA-certified advanced ayurvedic practitioner and bestselling author of Your Body Already Knows
Michael J. Breus, PhD, a clinical psychologist globally known as The Sleep Doctor
What Is Dark Showering?
Dark showering is exactly what it sounds like: Taking a shower while the lights are turned off so the lighting is dim rather than bright. You’re still cleaning per usual, but the purpose goes far beyond hygiene.
“Unlike [an early] morning shower, which is typically bright, energizing, and focused on cleansing and awakening the body, a dark shower is a ritual for the nervous system,” explains Nidhi Pandya, a NAMA-certified advanced ayurvedic practitioner and bestselling author of Your Body Already Knows. “By dimming or turning off the lights, you create a sensory cocoon that signals the body to unwind.”
She explains that the absence of bright light helps “down-regulate” your body’s stress response, which in turn supports its natural circadian transition from day to night. In that sense, it becomes a kind of threshold moment, washing away the day not just from the skin, but from the mind and senses.
To try the trend yourself, dim the lights in your bathroom to a point that’s soothing but that still allows you to see and navigate the shower safely.
5 Big Benefits of Dark Showering
Our mind and body benefits anytime we slow down and focus on sensations. It’s why we meditate, journal, lay on the grass, and listen to music with our eyes closed. It just feels good. Dark showering is the same. Here are some of the key benefits:
Reduces Stress
Stress abounds, but a dark shower might just have the potential to ease worried thoughts and racing minds. “Showering in the dark lowers visual stimulation, which can help the nervous system calm down,” explains Stefanie Mazer, Psy.D, a psychologist based in Palm Beach, Florida. “Some people find it eases racing thoughts after a long or tense day, and it may calm the nervous system.”
Improves Sleep
Whether you struggle with getting to sleep or could simply use some deeper rest, dark showering could help. Michael J. Breus, PhD, globally known as The Sleep Doctor, says, “Warm showers taken about 90 minutes before bed are well-documented to help create the artificial rise of core body temperature and then a precipitous fall of core body temperature to help melatonin production.” A dark shower further enhances this benefit by creating a less stimulating environment.
Resets Your Mood
Ever have like, the worst day ever? We’ve all been there. “The experience can shift a negative mindset into a calmer state. Even a short dark shower may leave people feeling refreshed mentally,” Dr. Mazer says.
Enhances Mindfulness
When the lights are low, your mind has fewer distractions. You start to notice the sound of water, the sensation on your skin, the rhythm of your breath. All the above put you into a meditative state (no app required).
Fosters Intimacy
In a time when most people barely have space for rest, let alone intimacy, Pandya says that dark showering has the power to reawaken sensuality. “The low light, warm water, and heightened sensory awareness create a soft, atmospheric mood that’s inherently romantic,” she says.
A Brief History of Dark Showering
Of course, showering in the dark isn’t necessarily new. Across many cultures, flipping the light switch while you soak in the tub or rinse off in the shower has been a core component of many self-care regimens.
“In India, evening bathing has long held a special place. People often bathed at twilight, with only the soft glow of lamps around. This was not just practical but deeply intentional, a way to cleanse the energetic residue of the day and prepare for night, rest, or intimacy,” Pandya tells us.
And in Japan, nighttime bathing in dimly lit wooden bathhouses has long been a cherished ritual. Pandya says that lanterns or candles illuminated steamy rooms, creating a warm, enclosed atmosphere that soothed the senses and invited the body into a state of ease. “Similarly, in ancient Greece and Rome, bathhouses often had low-lit tepidariums and caldariums, where people soaked and steamed by the light of oil lamps, not just to clean but to relax, restore, and transition.”
Read the original article on Real Simple
