SubscribeShould’ve Just Read “Lights Out”
I wrote a book review of Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar, and Survival previously. In this book, Wiley and Formby lay out the premise of why modern humans suffer from debilitating diseases and how light toxicity contributes. Now comes this finding that jives perfectly with that book’s premise:
Night life under electric lighting may cause serious behavioral disorders and physical diseases including cancer, according to a specialist team led of the Professor N.N. Pertov Scientific Research Institute of Oncology, Russian Ministry of Healthcare, and Petrozavodsk State University, who have been investigating the effects of night-time illumination on people’s health for several years.
Basically, strong light suppresses melatonin which is necessary for proper hormonal functioning. Think about all of the little lights in your room: alarm clock, LEDs on the DVD player, light coming through the windows, etc. All of that light is wreaking havoc on your hormonal systems by suppressing melatonin release. It is important to make your room as dark as possible and sleep 7-10 (8+ is optimal) per night.
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- Other Stuff You'll Enjoy:
- What I’m Reading: Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar, and Survival
- Go To Bed!
- Sleeping Less Means Gaining More Weight
- What I’m Reading - The Promise Of Sleep
- How Lack Of Sleep Affects Your Heart
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Filed in Sleep and Stress 2 Comments so far
Russell on 22 Feb 2007 at 4:54 pm #
it’s important that your hours of darkness should be very consistent, too, and more than eight.
Interestingly red light at night is ok - because ipRGCs aren’t sensitive to red.
PhotoperiodEffect.com has instructions and a lot more recent research and tips.
Scott Kustes on 23 Feb 2007 at 9:06 am #
Hi Russell,
Thanks for stopping by. That is quite interesting about red light. I’ll have to check it out. I haven’t had a chance to read your site yet, but I will give it some time soon.
Scott