Room Light Before Bedtime May Impact Sleep Quality, Blood Pressure and Diabetes Risk

[HuckleB]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110113082716.htm

"According to a recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM), exposure to electrical light between dusk and bedtime strongly suppresses melatonin levels and may impact physiologic processes regulated by melatonin signaling, such as sleepiness, thermoregulation, blood pressure and glucose homeostasis.

Melatonin is a hormone produced at night by the pineal gland in the brain. In addition to its role in regulating the sleep-wake cycle, melatonin has been shown to lower blood pressure and body temperature and has also been explored as a treatment option for insomnia, hypertension and cancer. In modern society, people are routinely exposed to electrical lighting during evening hours to partake in work, recreational and social activities. This study sought to understand whether exposure to room light in the late evening may inhibit melatonin production.

"On a daily basis, millions of people choose to keep the lights on prior to bedtime and during the usual hours of sleep," said Joshua Gooley, PhD, of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, Mass. and lead author of the study. "Our study shows that this exposure to indoor light has a strong suppressive effect on the hormone melatonin. This could, in turn, have effects on sleep quality and the body's ability to regulate body temperature, blood pressure and glucose levels."

In this study, researchers evaluated 116 healthy volunteers aged 18-30 years who were exposed to room light or dim light in the eight hours preceding bedtime for five consecutive days. An intravenous catheter was inserted into the forearms of study participants for continuous collection of blood plasma every 30-60 minutes for melatonin measurements. Results showed exposure to room light before bedtime shortened melatonin duration by about 90 minutes when compared to dim light exposure. Furthermore, exposure to room light during the usual hours of sleep suppressed melatonin by greater than 50 percent.

..."


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I do hope that researcher do some strong follow-up to this study.


Hmm. Yawn. Time for bed. :boring:

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. So we have to go to bed by 5:00 pm in December?

[HuckleB]

2. We don't have to do anything.

This is really preliminary research, but, from a plausibility standpoint, it has some possibilities. It may turn out to have some validity. Follow-up studies will need to occur, however.

But, I am suspecting that our predecessor didn't typically sleep from 5 PM until 7 AM during winter. Perhaps we'll find that dimming the lights to specific level will give us what we need for the benefit of our physiology. Perhaps...

[WhiteTara]

15. also color temperature of the light

affects the quality of sleep. Soft blue helps clam for sleep. So perhaps we could use color controls on our lights like we do dimmers now. Change the color of the light throughout the day with LED. Brighter light during the morning, soft blue in the evening before sleep. Futuristic I know, but it could be soon.

[RaleighNCDUer]

6. Of course not.

Just turn off the lights 90 minutes before going to bed.

[HuckleB]

10. Indeed.

One wonders if studies like this one

http://www.sciencesleep.org/ziliao/Effects%20of%20playing%20a%20computer%20game%20using%20a%20bright%20display%20on%20presleep%20physiological%20variables,%20sleep%20latency,%20slow%20wave%20sleep%20and%20REM%20sleep.pdf

are not "discovering" a similar outcome in reality. (Light keeps us awake.)

[happyslug]

11. No, just do not use electrical lighting between Dusk and Bedtime

It can be done, and I do NOT mean switching to another form of artificial lighting. You be surprise on how much you can move about at night without light IF YOU LEAVE YOUR EYES ADJUST.

One time I was on the Staple Bend Tunnel Trail outside Johnstown. I was on my bicycle and entered the tunnel about an hour before sunset. The light on the bike barely lite the inside of the tunnel. I then rode the rest of the trial AND then the Southern Cambria Trial, then turned around. By the time I arrived back at the Staple Bend Tunnel it was dusk, not yet dark but getting dark quickly. I entered the tunnel and my bike headlights really brighten up that tunnel. If you were to ask me how much more then the first time, I would have said at least four times the light. Whey the difference? My eyes had adjusted for the light outside the Tunnel before each time I entered the Tunnel. The first time from bright sunlight and the headlights on my bike were NOT up to that level so the tunnel looked dark. The Second time my eyes had adjusted to much lower light levels so when I turned on the same light, it appeared to my eyes to be much brighter. This is the result of your eyes adjusting.

Last year, during our deep snow fall, I did a trip on a bike trail after dark. A similar occurrence occurred, the snow provided enough reflection of the moon that it appeared almost daylight, throughly still clearly nighttime.

I can go on, detail reading can not e done in those circumstances (Through you will be surprise how much reading you can do with minimal lighting), but there are others things you can do provided precise vision is not needed (A good Walk, a Jog, eating your evening meal, talking to your friends, or just looking at the trees in the dark). Computers may be out, so would TV, but not much else.

[SheilaT]

29. You'd be surprised at how much light

I need at age 62 to be able to read. When young I could read in very dim light. Not any more.

This time of year normal day-workers are generally getting home after dark. Should we attempt to cook a meal in the dark?

I think that's an interesting study, but making that kind of a change simply isn't realistic for most people.

[eleny]

3. My eyelids are feeling heavy, too

[Jackpine Radical]

5. You are growing sleepy

s-l-e-e-p-y

You are starting to feel the urge to send me money…

The urge is getting stronger…

[eleny]

7. For shame!

[Jackpine Radical]

12. Damn.

That never works.

[HuckleB]

8. That smiley might just be the cure for what ails us!

It really does make me feel tired...

But I really have to wake up now! :headbang:

[Jackpine Radical]

4. We geezers also show major decreases in melatonin

as a simple part of the aging process. Personally, I take a melatonin supplement.

[BuddhaGirl]

9. Melatonin has bee a lifesaver for me

it works great! I have also found that l-Theanine works great for quieting the mind while trying to go to sleep.

[Sal Minella]

13. Cheap, generic melatonin -- good stuff!

What do you bet Big Pharma has people working on ways to "evergreen" melatonin so they can make mega-$$$ from it.

[Jackpine Radical]

14. Like the way they kiled off OTC L-Tryptophan

20 years ago because it was cutting into Prozac sales.

[trotsky]

22. Actually, no, they discovered that the most common methods of manufacturing it...

resulted in bacterial contamination.

But I realize that doesn't fit in with the "EVUL BIG PHARMA" conspiracy theories, so feel free to disregard.

[loudsue]

23. But ask yourself: who PAID for the study that said there was bacterial

"contamination". The pharmacy companies who pay you to listen to their b.s. have their hands dirty from WAY back.

[trotsky]

31. ZOMG

You are right. The ONLY logical explanation is that there is a conspiracy among MILLIONS - at ALL LEVELS of government, education, and industry. And that over the course of decades, NO ONE has had the moral fiber to blow the whistle and save lives. Not even the lowest-paid grad student slaving away in a lab.

[Jackpine Radical]

25. I believe there was one bad batch form somewhere

and that was used as the justification to take it off the market.

[trotsky]

32. That, and the chemical itself is usually destroyed in our digestive system.

Rendering it a complete waste. (Literally.) But you go on believing in your conspiracy, don't let me stop you.

[BuddhaGirl]

33. yes, that's true.

but it's been back on the market for years now. It works wonderfully for mood, relaxation, and sleep.

[trotsky]

34. LMAO

I guess big pharma wasn't so all-powerful after all!
:rofl:

[BuddhaGirl]

35. LMAO

nope - but that's okay, they do more than enough harm already :hi:

[Gregorian]

16. Oh no! What a trip. I just moved into my new place, and the lighting is

industrial. It's brighter than day in here. And my sleep has sucked.

Thanks for the article. I'm going to investigate and experiment. Not to mention save some money on my electric bill.

[HuckleB]

18. If you remember, let us know how it goes!

:hi:

[Gregorian]

20. I'd like to, but I've been having health issues that may not reveal it.

A few layers of health issues. One of which seems to be sleep apnea of some kind.

It's hard to know what is causing what. I've been at this for over a decade now. Finally had all my molars pulled last month. Ugh, just dreadful. I aged more in the last two months than in years. I honestly doubt the light is causing me issues.

I'm so pissed off about health care in America. And I'm considered a healthy person. Dental isn't considered medical. Weird.

I had to rant. Sorry about that.

[jwirr]

17. In the article it says that many people leave these lights on even

while sleeping. That is what we can change. I never have but I know people who do.

[mopinko]

19. i think this is why violence increases when tv is introduced.

there were a number of studies that purported to show that violence increased in places where tv was introduced for the first time, but i never saw one that controlled for the concurrent introduction of electricity, especially the impact on sleep pattern changes. messing with people's sleep can fuck up EVERYTHING.

you can overcome this somewhat be taking a melatonin supplement at bedtime. i think it helps me. and my son, who has a circadian clock problem, has been able to stay stable with it.

[Gregorian]

21. I think there's more to the tv link than meets the eye.

I remember seeing something about how tv is a kind of empty one way relationship. One doesn't respond the way they do in a real reciprocal form of communication. It was rather interesting in how it developed a theory on what was going on. None of it good. Although I do love my TCM old movies.

We blew it when we left our farms. End of subject. :)

[mopinko]

24. according to kurt vonnegut we blew it when we invented

underarm deodorant. i tend to concur in this. our little monkey tribes disintegrated after that.

[RC]

26. No, we blew it when we invented window screens

After that people started staying inside away from the insects. It's been down hill ever since.

[Gregorian]

28. It all went downhill when we decided to stop spearing mammoths, and growing grain.

I think it goes back a little further than screens. Maybe even shoes.

[RC]

30. We stopped spearing mammoths when they went extinct.

Too bad. Can you imagine the size of the plow they could pull?

[Gregorian]

27. God I love him.

If he said it it was probably far more true than it might seem.

Which is why I've never worn deodorant. It's hard to find a tiny corner of the world in which to live a sane life, undisturbed.

[Jackpine Radical]

36. I know the research you're talking about.

The advent of TV was not concurrent with the advent of electricity in most of those areas (e.g. western Canada). They had had electricity for many years but had no TV broadcast stations within range. When the stations came into the various areas, then people got TV & the violence started.

You bring something interesting to mind from my personal life. When I was a kid, I went to a one-room country school in a remote area of northern WI & none of us had TV, for the reason I mentioned: no stations within receiving range. tEvery one of us had access to guns at home, were trained in hunting & shooting, & probably every boy carried a jackknife. I know I did, from 2nd or 3d grade on. Nobody ever thought of fighting with a knife. We whittled with them, maybe played mumbledy-peg (not with MY knife, BTW. Nobody was going to stick MY carefully sharpened knife into the ground.), sharpened our pencils , etc. Any one of us could have brought a gun to school, I suppose, and every one of us boys was armed with a knife. Knives & guns were in a class of "dangerous tools" along wth axes, tractors (I was being taught how to drive a small log-skidding Caterpillar tractor by age 7), etc.

No TV, no violence.