Page 70 - Summer2015

Blue light is phones or iPads, no routers or wireless modems. IF YOU CAN'T ESCAPE BLUE LIGHTS
A number of companies now make glasses
mainly harmful Make your bedroom a protected haven and re- that filter out blue light, along with other blue-
spite from the gadgetry of the modern world.
when our If you need a clock in your sleeping quarters, light-blocking accessories and gear. For those
exposure models are now available in red light and that who must work late in the evening and cannot
comes at only display when touched by you. Similarly, control the light of their environment, such
have a lamp or two in your sleeping quarters glasses may provide benefits to their health and
the wrong with specialized light bulbs that focus on the sleep.
time. warm, evening light spectrum rather than the
bright day range of color, such as those oh-so- PROGRAMS FOR TECH
evil incandescent bulbs. Go for lower wattage For those who use computers and phones
(less total light producing) bulbs as well as the for work, especially in the evenings and thus
warmer color spectrum, as the two combined have little choice save to change occupations, a
help the body prepare for slumber and are less few very useful options exist to help minimize
disruptive to our bodily rhythms. exposure and damage from blue light, especially
Avoid CFLs (compact fluorescent lamp) in the evenings.
(Spring 2013). Go with LEDs. Though they F.lux is free, down-loadable software that
typically skew towards the blue, you can look for automatically controls your computer’s color
ones that are specially made or coated to change spectrum, causing the display to mimic daylight
the light balance for bedroom or similar use. and warm night-time light at the appropriate
times automatically. It is available for free for
WAYS TO BENEFIT FROM BLUE LIGHT PCs and laptops. It can only be used on jailbroken
Do note that blue light is not all bad news. It phone devices. Find out more at justgetflux.com.
appears it is mainly harmful when our exposure It is also important at night to drop the total
comes at the wrong time. Especially for people brightness of your devices, not just remove blue
whose work denies them access to sunlight, or light. A recent study showed that an area in the
people in climates and locations that have limited brain called the suprachiasmatic nucleus, or
natural light, blue light exposure can be very SCN, is affected by both intensity and color of
beneficial. Astronauts, for instance, are given light exposure. The SCN measures time for the
5
specialized lights that “encourage energy and body using chemicals and electrical rhythms.
activity during what would be daytime hours, So turn down the brightness as well. Note
and then (use)...light bulbs that dial back on the that distance matters with light. At six inches,
blue to boost astronauts’ production of melatonin you receive four times more light than at twelve,
for a good night’s sleep. Similarly, many people and sixteen times more light than at twenty four
who live in the prolonged dark of northern winter (light decreases over the distance squared, so
climates are prescribed blue light to fight off SAD every doubling of distance quarters the intensity).
(seasonal affective disorder).” 4 Especially for computers, the farther you are

STUDIES ON LIGHT 11
In one study men exposed to fluorescent lights produced 40 percent less melatonin and reported feeling more awake
an hour after the lights were shut off for bedtime than men exposed to incandescent lighting.
Another study showed that light exposure delayed the onset of melatonin production by as much as ninety minutes
after the lights were turned off.
Yet another study involving mice showed that those exposed to light at night gained more weight than those exposed
to normal amounts of daylight, even though both groups consumed identical amounts of calories.
The WHO has stated that “shift work” is a probable carcinogen, especially for breast cancer. This is perhaps partly
attributable to the disruption of basic natural rhythms, and also to the fact that most of these jobs are performed under
intense, artificial fluorescent lighting.
For those with severe sleep and circadian rhythm disturbances, it may be time to go on an extended camping trip
where modern technology is strictly limited to help the body reset and regulate itself to more natural and healthy rhythms.
70 Wise Traditions SUMMER 2015 Wise Traditions

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