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Light exposure during sleep impairs cardiometabolic function

pnas.org

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Re: Light exposure during sleep impairs cardiometabolic function

#61

Post by Broken_Hippo »

bolangi wrote: post #44

Hope this discovery will influence hospital lighting policies.

Hospitals have slightly different constraints.

You - as a patient - often have time to sleep unlike in your daily life. And the hospital is often going to wake you up nonetheless: It is, generally, more important to take your vitals than it is to allow you uninterrupted sleep.

They also need to look out for safety. You have a bunch of patients who are feeling poorly. Some aren't quite sober due to pain medications. All in an unfamiliar setting. A bit of light makes it safer to move around at night if you should need to. Sure, a patient can control lights, but not everyone will be able to. In some areas, you are sharing a room, too.

All that said: For my last hospital stay, the room got as dark as I wanted at night - but I'm not sure that would have been the same during the summer (I can read outside at night during the summer).

Re: Light exposure during sleep impairs cardiometabolic function

#62

Post by jcynix »

ad404b8a372f2b9 wrote: post #54
social_quotient wrote: post #22

I find these stickers helpful for a ton of little lights in the bedroom LIGHT DIMS Black Out Edition - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009WSN8PK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_...

I use electrical tape to cover those and it's made a world of difference, it's crazy how many items have LEDs in them. Power strips, clocks, monitors, charger cables, my synth, ... My girlfriend thinks I'm nuts because I'll get up in the middle of the night to tape over previously undiscovered LEDs. What do we need all these LEDs for?!

> I use electrical tape to cover those

Another easy solution is to add a layer of nail polish to dim leds.

Re: Light exposure during sleep impairs cardiometabolic function

#63

Post by heleninboodler »

ZYinMD wrote: post #31
dylan604 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How many people outside of production work a) knows what gaff is, b) where to get it, c) uses it with a pair of scissors?

Search "tape with no residue" on Amazon, Gaffers will come out. That was how I knew it.

How to search for gaffers tape without typing "gaffers tape" :D

Re: Light exposure during sleep impairs cardiometabolic function

#64

Post by bamboozled »

NortySpock wrote: post #9
savant_penguin wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you suggest one? Maybe one that doesn't uncomfortably push your eyeballs in

As a generic statement, look for a silk sleep mask. While not often actually silk, they tend to be soft polyester and use fabric filler rather than near-credit-card-grade plastic. (I agree, I don't understand firm sleep-masks) In the photos (I know they're photoshopped these days), look for the mask to actually wrap around the user's face, and look for photos that show the same material on both sides (so you can see…

Second the silk eye mask, one of the best things I've ever purchased.

Re: Light exposure during sleep impairs cardiometabolic function

#65

Post by ptman »

cj wrote: post #29
scruple wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't use a set of blackout curtains, but I know several friends that say it makes a real difference. Maybe a year ago, I was planning on having a sleep study done. At some point in my 30s I stopped feeling like I was recovering when I slept. I decided, however, that there were some things that I could work on improving before having a sleep study. Most of what I addressed falls under sleep hygiene: Blackout curt…

Blackout curtains are great for sleeping, but I have trouble waking up and getting out of bed when the room is still completely dark (when it’s light outside in the AM). Recently bought some Hue smart lights to simulate sunrise with blackout curtains which is helping. Next up, motorized blinds that open at a scheduled time. (#firstworldproblems)

I've had great success with Wake-up Lights / Sunrise alarm clocks. They do get quite bright when fully lit.

Re: Light exposure during sleep impairs cardiometabolic function

#66

Post by hackerfromthefu »

ad404b8a372f2b9 wrote: post #54
social_quotient wrote: post #22

I find these stickers helpful for a ton of little lights in the bedroom LIGHT DIMS Black Out Edition - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009WSN8PK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_...

I use electrical tape to cover those and it's made a world of difference, it's crazy how many items have LEDs in them. Power strips, clocks, monitors, charger cables, my synth, ... My girlfriend thinks I'm nuts because I'll get up in the middle of the night to tape over previously undiscovered LEDs. What do we need all these LEDs for?!

Yeah and why isn't there a switch to keep them always off, on everything!

Re: Light exposure during sleep impairs cardiometabolic function

#67

Post by soderfoo »

isolli wrote: post #57

It reminds me of this article [0], a very interesting read on "surviving" winter in Sweden (and Northern latitudes in general). It ends with how in summer things are flipped and everyone complains about how poorly they sleep. [0] https://www.ft.com/content/180f3428-1923-11e9-b93e-f4351a53f...

Before moving to Sweden,I was fully aware of short Scandinavian winter days. They're like the poster child for seasonal depression.

Nothing/no one prepared me for the sun rising at 3 am in May... It was quite an interesting first year.

Re: Light exposure during sleep impairs cardiometabolic function

#68

Post by bestnameever »

cj wrote: post #29
scruple wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't use a set of blackout curtains, but I know several friends that say it makes a real difference. Maybe a year ago, I was planning on having a sleep study done. At some point in my 30s I stopped feeling like I was recovering when I slept. I decided, however, that there were some things that I could work on improving before having a sleep study. Most of what I addressed falls under sleep hygiene: Blackout curt…

Blackout curtains are great for sleeping, but I have trouble waking up and getting out of bed when the room is still completely dark (when it’s light outside in the AM). Recently bought some Hue smart lights to simulate sunrise with blackout curtains which is helping. Next up, motorized blinds that open at a scheduled time. (#firstworldproblems)

Hue smart lights simulated sunrise was a game changer for me.

Re: Light exposure during sleep impairs cardiometabolic function

#69

Post by jbverschoor »

synaesthesisx wrote: post #3

This article refers to "moderate" (100 lx) light exposure - this amounts to an overhead light on in the room for the entire duration of sleep. I would say an overhead light is a significant amount of light, but wonder how low the threshold is for sleep disruptions. Living in an urban environment, there's a non-negligible amount of ambient light that makes its way in. I don't use a set of blackout curtains, but I know…

Pilots are only allowed to stay in hotels with 100% blackout curtains

Re: Light exposure during sleep impairs cardiometabolic function

#70

Post by echelon »

I love studies like this. I know, I know. "It's just a study." But it means that people are having new thoughts about how the body responds to its environment and enters into chronic disease states.

Some of our "new ideas" about diseases are actually maybe not all that crazy [1].

Every time I see one of these potential connections, my brain jumps to generate new hypotheses for everything around it. I sometimes wish I was a PI looking into these things.

For instance, this article made me think that perhaps children being exposed to night lights upsets their metabolic behavior in early development enough to lead to long term neurotransmitter dysfunction and desensitization. ADHD. Just a hypothesis. Totally unsupported. Probably not a contributor. But I'd love to have access to journals and data and test these things.

In a different life...

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29882347

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