I live in the north part of the north hemisphere. It's bright outside the entire 24 hours for almost a month during summer. I use a sleep mask to combat it and the last 5 years I feel like I regained sleep during the summertime. Last year I purchased a Manta Sleep mask and they are next-level good. Total darkness and really easy on the face. I have no affiliation with the brand, just a really happy customer of theirs.
Light exposure during sleep impairs cardiometabolic function
81–90 of 124 posts
Re: Light exposure during sleep impairs cardiometabolic function
#82Could this effect be explained otherwise by "disruption of normal sleeping environment"? Presumably all of these people are used to sleeping with dim lights. What would the effect be on subjects who were used to 100 lux light?
My intuitive sense is that light at night has some harmful effect. On the other hand, I live at a latitude where summer nights are very bright, and I and my fellow residents generally get used to it. Perhaps the effect diminishes?
Are there people with sleeping habits such that they would find darkness similarly disruptive?
Re: Light exposure during sleep impairs cardiometabolic function
#83This 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…
> I don't use a set of blackout curtains, but I know several friends that say it makes a real difference.
Have blackout blinds on every window upstairs so thats its dark enough during summer mid day sun to sleep. They keep the heat out during the summer (to the point I dont need the air conditioning on albeit on the hottest days and the warmth in during the winter which contributes to energy saving, the only downside is the air gets stagnant in small buildings.
I believe a lot of German homes also have external blinds over their windows for similar reasons plus they offer a layer of security making it harder to break in, but then what do the Germans know?
100lux is quite bright, I have a lux meter and here in the UK 100-200lux is a really cloudy winters day level of brightness, where as a bright summertime day will exceed tens of thousands lux for comparison.
Its because light affects the release of melatonin black out blinds are fitted. Melatonin increases the release of stem cells and stem cells play their part in repairing the body, but like I say earlier, CO2 levels building up cause the body to be stimulated even during sleep so sleep is not as refreshing as it could be in small homes and almost all UK homes are small, but hey the CO2 helps contribute to an increase in GDP and thats all that counts!
Re: Light exposure during sleep impairs cardiometabolic function
#84That's a pretty bold statement that nightlights are associated with obesity.
But there's a theory blue/white reduces melatonin output.
So, use red nightlights, apparently true red wavelengths don't affect sleep.
https://www.healthline.com/health/why-not-to-have-red-lights...
Re: Light exposure during sleep impairs cardiometabolic function
#85What worries me is that some of the research done on this suggests that even tiny amounts of light could have a noticable effect, like green and blue LEDs on common home electronics when it sits in standby or sleep mode.
Re: Light exposure during sleep impairs cardiometabolic function
#86I live in the north part of the north hemisphere. It's bright outside the entire 24 hours for almost a month during summer. I use a sleep mask to combat it and the last 5 years I feel like I regained sleep during the summertime. Last year I purchased a Manta Sleep mask and they are next-level good. Total darkness and really easy on the face. I have no affiliation with the brand, just a really happy customer of theirs…
In the summer if I don’t sleep with my mask off I start to feel myself slowly unhinging. Sun being out at 2am while you’re trying to sleep can definitely make you feel out of it! Hard to find blackout curtains that work perfectly too.
Re: Light exposure during sleep impairs cardiometabolic function
#87Hope 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. A…
Hospitals are really there for downside mitigation and acute care, not necessarily for “recovery”. If you take that perspective, it makes a lot more sense why the lights, beeps, vital checks, loud talking in the hallway, etc all conspire to ruin your sleep. Ultimately, getting healthy enough to be discharged and getting back home is when/how you’ll fully heal.
Source: Spent a few nights in hospital a week ago and came home covered in bruises and sleep deprived —- but very alive and ready to recover!
Re: Light exposure during sleep impairs cardiometabolic function
#88I live in the north part of the north hemisphere. It's bright outside the entire 24 hours for almost a month during summer. I use a sleep mask to combat it and the last 5 years I feel like I regained sleep during the summertime. Last year I purchased a Manta Sleep mask and they are next-level good. Total darkness and really easy on the face. I have no affiliation with the brand, just a really happy customer of theirs…
In the summer if I don’t sleep with my mask off I start to feel myself slowly unhinging. Sun being out at 2am while you’re trying to sleep can definitely make you feel out of it! Hard to find blackout curtains that work perfectly too.
Easyblinds Blackout Blinds or Blackout EZ works well for me. (Basically, lightproof textile velcroed all around the window frame.)
Re: Light exposure during sleep impairs cardiometabolic function
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
Grabs wheel, jerks hard left: Oh my those are some fun images! The art on a lot of Amazon listings are just hillarious. Some are down right creepy. The 6th image for this listing has a very intersting bit of text on the screen in what I'm guessing a slide in a deck??? My favorites are the ones where the "product" is just photoshopped in with Escher level physics required to make it believable.
Certainty Elegance Professionalism Just Like You
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Re: Light exposure during sleep impairs cardiometabolic function
#90This 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…
> This article refers to "moderate" (100 lx) light exposure
I think that’s relative to daylight, which already is 1,000 lx under an overcast sky, 10,000 in full daylight, 100,000 in full sunlight.