AfterDark: 7 Evening Rituals Backed by Science

Since the clocks went back on Sunday 25th October, darkness has been arriving early. In London the sun now sets before 5pm, and by the end of November it will be gone before 4pm. Many people respond by switching on every light, reaching for the remote and waiting for spring.

There is another way to live through the dark months. In Tromsø, in northern Norway, the sun does not rise above the horizon for around seven weeks each winter. Researchers who studied people there found that those who held a positive view of winter, seeing it as a season of cosiness and its own pleasures, reported higher wellbeing than those who simply endured it. How you think about the dark shapes how you live through it.

That is the idea behind AfterDark: treating the hours after sunset as something to look forward to. The seven rituals below are backed by research, and none takes more than half an hour. For the science of the hour before bed itself, see our guide to bedtime routines after the clocks went back.