Which lights help you sleep?

Are our screens and lights affecting our sleep? Recent studies have confirmed this. Let's see why.

In our retina there are photoreceptor cells (cells that convert light into signals which stimulate biological processes) that track the amount of blue light exposed to the eye. They report to a specific region in our brain called the suprachiasmatic nucleus. When there is a lot of blue light, the nucleus tells the pineal gland to produce less melatonin (a hormone that causes sleepiness). Therefore, the amount of blue light that we are exposed to effects how sleepy we feel.

Blue light occurs naturally in the environment. The sun emits blue light resulting in less melatonin production that causes us to be less sleepy in the day. In the night, there isn't any blue light (naturally), so melatonin production is higher and we feel sleepy.

The problem arises when people use screens in the night because screens emit blue light. They have less melatonin production (like when the sun is up), and cannot fall asleep. In a 2013 experiment, people who looked at iPads 4 hours before sleeping, took an average of 10 minutes more time to sleep than those who read a book before sleeping.

So, is there anything we can do to reduce the effects of blue screen light on our sleep? Yes, there are a few remedies. Some apps reduce the amount of blue light you get from the screen, and increase the orange light (orange light least affects normal melatonin production). Another solution is to wear certain glasses that filter out much of the blue light.

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