New Show: Light At Night…Is It Really That Bad For You?

Is light at night bad for you?

The answer is definitely yes.

The short answer as to why light at night is bad is because it suppresses your melatonin levels and alters  your circadian rhythm. Not good if you want to heal with optimal sleep.

I go into full detail here about how I mitigate light at night and embrace natural light frequencies during the day.

Why Light At Night Is Dangerous

Attenuation of short wavelengths alters sleep and the ipRGC pupil response

“The use of short wavelength-blocking glasses at night increased subjectively measured sleep quality and objectively measured melatonin levels and sleep duration, presumably as a result of decreased night-time stimulation of ipRGCs. Alterations in the ipRGC-driven pupil response suggest a shift in circadian phase. Results suggest that minimizing short wavelength light following sunset may help in regulating sleep patterns.” – Source

Blue light from light-emitting diodes elicits a dose-dependent suppression of melatonin in humans

“..light suppresses melatonin most effectively in the short-wavelength portion of the spectrum (446-477 nm).” – Study

Green Light Attenuates Melatonin Output and Sleepiness during Sleep Deprivation

“Humans are particularly sensitive to green light, and melatonin output is more readily suppressed by this hue”.

“Melatonin output is more readily suppressed by [green light] than by various other hues of the same intensity. For example, the suppression is about 75% greater than for light of 600 nm (orange-red)” – Source

Putting cancer to sleep at night

The neuroendocrine/circadian melatonin signal

It has been postulated that in industrialized societies, light at night, by suppressing melatonin production, poses a new risk for the development of breast cancer and, perhaps, other cancers as well. Dietary melatonin supplementation working in concert with the endogenous melatonin signal has the potential to be a new preventive/therapeutic strategy to optimize the host/cancer balance in favor of host survival and quality of life. – Source

Artificial light at night and melatonin–is it the missing link?

“The use of artificial light at night tricks the body into believing that it is still daytime. The special photoreceptors in the eye […] send signals to the pineal gland which suppresses the production of melatonin. Thus, the onset of melatonin production is pushed back later into the evening […] reducing the amount of melatonin that the body produces, which can negatively affect health”​.

“Melatonin has been shown to be protective against the development and spread of cancer […] through the suppression of melatonin production, it increases the probability that cancer cells can survive and spread”​.  – Source

Light at night and modeled circadian disruption predict higher risk of mortality: A prospective study in >88,000 participants

Minimizing exposure to light at night and keeping regular light-dark patterns that enhance circadian r