How your light “diet” is altering your hormones

When it comes to our health, our light diet is just as important as our literal diet. Our light diet is the accumulation of all the light we consume throughout our days, now this wouldn’t be a topic worth discussing if everyone lived under natural light only but unfortunately this is far from the case and many don’t release the harm blue light poses to our health. 

Our body is sensitive to the light, this is why it is easier to fall asleep at night than it is during the middle of the day, the light we expose ourselves to signals to our hormones what to do. In the modern day where many are spending most of their day glued to a screen, how is this impacting our health? 

Blue light 

Blue light does exist in nature, it is what signals us to wake up in the morning, our eyes absorb this blue light and it is sent to our brain where cortisol is produced and we usually wake up. Unfortunately screens and LED lights also emit blue light, this causes an individuals hormone signalling to become disrupted, especially when they try to go to sleep, they want to fall asleep quickly but their body is or has just been told to wake up, all thanks to the prevalence of blue light around them. 

We adopted blue light as it was more efficient but this came at the cost of our health. We began using screens after sunset with the use of TV’s, computers and phones. No one realised this form of light would ruin sleep and alter hormones. 

Reducing your exposure as well as blocking the blue light you are exposed to can have profound effects on your health. If your light diet is currently largely artificial blue light with little natural light, making this simple change can impact your health far more than any supplement. It is also important to note that blue light isn’t just absorbed through eyesight but also through our skin.

Flickering light 

There is one form of light even more damaging than artificial blue light and that is flickering blue light, the flickering rate is too fast for you to consciously see it but with the use of a camera, you can clearly see it happening. This rate of flickering is taxing for your brain and body, placing your body into a state of stress, known as the fight or flight state or sympathetic state. 

Flickering light mainly comes from OLED screens as well as certain forms of LED’s. Reducing your exposure to flickering light can free up energy and help you de-stress as your body enters the rest and digest state also known as the parasympathetic state more easily.

Choosing older technology such as LCD screens as well as incandescent light bulbs and returning to forms of light we’ve always used, such as candles, can help you reduce this highly negative part of your light diet. If you cannot escape the use of a OLED screen or flickering lighting, try to reduce your exposure everywhere else, especially after sunset and close to bedtime. 

Circadian rhythm 

The light we expose ourselves to has a direct impact on our circadian rhythm, when this rhythm is in tune we find it easy to fall asleep and wake up. Our sleep is deep and truly restful. When it is disrupted we can experience issues falling asleep, staying asleep and even the quality of our sleep can degrade significantly. Our ability to wake up in the mornings can be stunted, often wanting to sleep late into the morning or nap at midday. 

We weren’t made to be up all night exposed to blue light, our spend hours of our day absorbing only this one form of light. If your sleep has been suffering greatly, pay attention to your light diet and how much natural light you are truly getting everyday. Assess your evening routines and if you are watching TV or scrolling your phone right up until bedtime, there most likely lies your issue.

Fix it with natural and infrared light 

So how do you fix your circadian rhythm and how do you improve your light diet? The answer, as always, is returning to nature, the humble incandescent bulb was fire captured in a glass bulb, it simulated natural light far better than LED’s do and even though its use after sunset should still be kept to a minimum, switching to this form of lighting can greatly improve your health especially as we head into days of shorter daylight. 

In addition to the above, getting outside is of the simplest thing you can do to tune your circadian rhythm and improve your health overall. The more time spent out doors during your day the better. Sunlight in your eyes is truly healing.

After sunset is the most important time of all, wearing blue light blocking glasses, keeping lighting low and coming away from screens at least an hour before bed can all be huge drivers of change for your health. 

Furthermore, we can also look to simulate infrared light from the sun, by using high quality infrared and red light panels or the more budget friendly “chicken lamp” style. Infrared light is a powerful healer to our body and can help boost mitochondrial health which is directly related to our energy levels.

Summary 

The modern light diet problem is very similar to the root cause of all other problems people face with their health in the modern age and that is a disconnect from nature. We live in boxes lit by artificial light and wonder why we can never sleep, but if we go camping we soon sleep like a baby, its not hard to see why the closer we live inline with nature the healthier we are. 

Taking your light diet seriously doesn’t have to mean living in the woods but it does mean being conscious of all the artificial light you are absorbing, change the main source of your light, block what you cannot avoid and watch your health thrive again.