Did you know that our light environment plays a huge role in our health?
Our lives revolve around light and dark cycles and in the plant and animal world, their biological clocks stay in sync with these light and dark cycles that regulate metabolic processes and encironmental changes.
Humans also operate on circadian rhythms that are 24-hour cycles of biological, hormonal and behavioral patterns. These rhythms affect many physiological processes including hormonal production that regulates our sleep, hunger and metabolism.
Circadian rhythms regulate our weight, performance, mood, and susceptibility to disease.
Did you know that almost 50% of human gene expression is under circadian control? This means that becoming educated in Circadian Health Strategies will have a profound implication for our well-being and longevity.
The Master Conductor.
Deep in our brain lies a small bundle of nerves called the suprachiasmatic nucleus [SCN]. The SCN is directly linked to our eyes. Our organs, tissues and cells have clock genes that both regulate and coordinate biochemical processes. These clocks need to be synchronised with our master clock in the SCN in order to do their job well.
The Amazing Human Body.
Almost every cell in our body has a clock that's programmed to turn on and off thousands of genes at different times of the day and night. Our circadian rhythms are internal, but are cued up to our local environment by outside cues like light and temperature.
When we eat, the clocks in our gut and liver are signaled and when we move our muscles are signaled - so amazing!
A Beautiful Symphony or Not!
When all the trillions of clocks in our cells are playing in tune and following the SNC Conductor, we will have wonderful harmonies provided our SNC is aligned with the natural light and dark cycles.
Unfortunately, when this becomes out of sync, we experience dissonance and chaos that looks like inflammation and disease.
Dialing in the Light.
Our daily activities and environment are either supporting our internal clock or contributing to the decline in our health outcomes.
It's so important to learn how to adopt the right circadian cues of light and darkness, food, exercise and temperature, at the right time to support a healthy body, mind and heart.
Suggestions to Support Circadian Rhythms.
Before we consider what to eat to support our health, we need to develop a daily schedule that reinforces our body's natural rhythms and then pair these with the timing of when we eat, move and sleep.
Rise with the sun.
Spend more time outside.
Expose your eyes and skin to more natural light without glasses, sunscreen or sunglasses.
Protect your eyes and skin from artificial light, especially at night.
Eat and incorporate movement during daylight hours.
Eat your meals outside.
Fast and rest when it's dark.
Artificial Light.
Until recently, we set our days around the sun. Now, LED lights create so much light that 80% of the world's population can't experience a natural night anymore. Our continued quest to create ever more and brighter light sources, keeping them close to our eyes at all times of the day and night are creating a metabolic disaster.
These artificial light sources are a disruption to our physiology because our body functions according to the trillions of biological clocks that respond to light and darkness. When there is little darkness, or it arrives very late at night, we become disregulated and experience symptoms that work against our natural biological rhythms.
Natural light is dynamic and contains all wave lengths in a balanced way. Artificial lights are static, unbalanced in their spectral composition - which means they can't be bright enough for the day, and too bright for nighttime use.
The Effects of Artificial Lights.
Tricks our body to be awake independent of the natural light/dark cycle that disrupts our biological clock.
Stay wired and tired due to the enrichment of blue light without much orange and red spectrum.
Suppresses the production of melatonin which signals our body to go to sleep. People with blue or green colored eyes are more suseptible to melatonin supression.
Raises cortisol, blood sugar, body temperature, and heart rate - leading to poor sleep and increased appetite.
Leptin resistance.
Impaired cellular repair.
Reduction of fat-burning.
High blood glucose.
Foggy brain and sleepiness during the next day.
What Can I Do?
Embrace natural light and minimize artificial light sources.
Incorporate more red and infared light.
There's nothing like the healing benefits of sunlight - so get outside!
Install the Circadian App. This allows you to choose up to 3free alerts to help fine-tune sun exposure.
Wear blue light blockers when the sun sets and you're under artificial light. Try blockbluelight.com code- circadian
Trade out LED bulbs. Check out Circadian Lightbulbs by Healthy Home; thehealthyhome.shop BioLight downlight byblockbluelight.com. code-circadian
Try a blackout sleep mask to block out all light while sleeping. Try YIVIEW Sleep Mask 100% light-blocking on Amazon.
Download Iris- a light blocking software on your computer. Download free; iristech.co
Use a screen filter for your phone, TV, desktop, laptop or tablet - lowbluelights.com; code BLUEMOTION10
Becoming aware and informed about how our artificial light environment is causing our health to erode can move us toward action.
I can help you find better ways to be able to live well without having to find a cave to move into.
You can find me here;
Instagram: janlindquist_ntp
Thanks for reading,
Jan
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