Light, colour and sleep - An introduction

LIGHT VS SLEEP HAVING TROUBLE SLEEPING? SOMETIMES ITs STRESS, SOMETIMES ITS ANXIETY, BUT MORE AND MORE SLEEPLESS NIGHTS ARE CAUSED BY MODERN TECHNOLOGY. WHY? Melatonin is the hormone that promotes sleep. When less light enters the eye, melatonin is produced. So for tens of thousands of years the sunset told body clocks it was time for bed. Then came the electric light bulb, the LED television, the smartphone, the tablet and the e-reader. 90: NORMAL INDOOR LIGHTING USING E-READERS MAKES IT DELAYS MELATONIN PRODUCTION HARDER TO FALL ASLEEP AT NIGHT BY 90 MINUTES 22% TWO HOURS ON A TABLET SUPPRESSES MELATONIN MEN EXPOSED TO FLUORESCENT BULBS PRODUCE BY 22% 40% LESS MELATONIN IN A DAY Light is made up of invisible red, amber, green, blue and violet rays. All light supresses melatonin. But the blue light emitted from modern devices closely matches that of the midday sun. So makes us feel alert - and not sleepy! HOW TO FIGHT LIGHT AND GET A GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP 99% Melatonin production should start between 9 and 10pm Use dimmers. Bright light compared to dim suppresses melatonin in 99% of people Go for a red LED alarm clock. Red light has less effect on melatonin than blue 78% Pick up a book E-readers and tablets have been found to delay sleep by 10 minutes Stop texting at night. 78% of adults use smartphones before bed, exposing themselves to blue light Blackout blinds will help you sleep in complete darkness by blocking out streetlights SOURCES http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2014/12/18/1418490112.full.pdf+html https://justgerflux.com/research.html http://www.oma-assn.org/resources/doc/csaph/a12-csaph4-lightpollution-summary.pdf htp://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/05/heolth/05light.html?_r-28pogewanted-all http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/bright-idea-new-ottawa-street-lights-will-couse-more-light-pollution-physicist http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2609957/Coming-street-near-lights-owake-make-people-ill.html http://articles.mercolo.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/06/26/sleep-electronic-gadgets.ospx http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/anicles/PMC3047226/ http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/healthy/getting/overcoming/hips HILLARYS Make a window. Make a room. N. CI