Do you have trouble sleeping at night? Exposure to blue light before bed, and even during sleep, may be affecting your sleep patterns. In addition to disrupting sleep, blue light at night can also cause serious disruptions to normal physiological processes such as fat oxidation and energy metabolism.
Taking proactive steps to minimize blue light exposure while increasing access to natural light throughout the day can help create healthier sleep habits while regulating basic biological functions.
What is blue light?
Blue light comes primarily from daylight and screens such as phones or televisions. Energy-efficient lighting such as LED bulbs is another common source of blue light. Since many people turn to these devices just before bed and even keep blue light emitting electronics such as televisions on all night, it’s no surprise that sleep patterns can be altered.
What is the effect of blue light on sleep patterns?
We have known for a long time that blue light sleep pattern negatively affect your body, leading to restless nights and fatigue during the day. The reason for this disruption lies in the understanding of the body's natural circadian rhythms.
The body releases and suppresses the production of the hormone melatonin during the normal sleep-wake cycle. Melatonin release increases in the evening hours as the body prepares for sleep. Conversely, melatonin production is suppressed when the sun rises, helping you wake up and face the day. Exposure to blue light even in the evening hours suppresses melatonin production, altering your circadian rhythm and disrupting sleep.
The effect of blue light on fat oxidation and energy metabolism
Before we get into the effects of blue light on fat oxidation and energy metabolism, we should perhaps first explain what these terms mean.
In short, fat oxidation is the breakdown of fatty acids to obtain energy from them. Energy metabolism is actually the metabolism from which the body obtains energy, this can be obtained from both carbohydrates and fats.
One study found a link between melatonin levels and fat oxidation when exposed to OLED lighting. This data suggests that the way melatonin levels can affect energy metabolism may depend on the type of light you get.
The conclusion of this study is that the lights used at night can affect both fat oxidation and body temperature while you sleep. This means that exposure to light may be a key in controlling weight gain and additional metabolic changes during nighttime hours.
Minimize exposure to blue light in the evening
The blue light from screens and lamps can be blocked so that the production of melatonin is not suppressed by the light. The easiest way to do this is by using a glasses with orange lenses . Orange lenses filter all “colours” of blue light so that nothing can suppress the production of melatonin.
If you don't want to do this, you can always choose to turn off all your screens an hour before you go to bed. It's not for nothing that you get tired if you read a book in bed.
Source: www.chronobiology.com
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