CAN ARTIFICIAL LIGHT BE CAUSING OUR HEALTH TO SUFFER?

As I am taking a deep dive into how our “light” environment affects our health (natural and artificial light), I will share a few key observations.

Mother Nature does not make mistakes. Our natural light environment from the sun includes the colors of the rainbow which emit different frequencies at different times of the day. These frequencies instruct our bodies to perform various tasks. While sunrise begins with infrared light frequencies, there is very little blue light present as well. Blue light is never present by itself in nature. 42% of red light is always part of the sun’s spectrum. This is so we are protected from the damage blue light can cause.

Artificial blue light is our “indoor” light — the LED’s, computer screens, cell phones, TV’s, etc. Think of non-native electromagnetic frequencies. This means it does not come from the sun. This may sound crazy, but…. blue light raises glucose levels, raises insulin levels and can make you gain weight! I know.. it sounds crazy, right? I have done my research and there are many published studies corroborating this.

Natural light is essential for our circadian clocks, which leads to the coordination of our physiology and behavior. Emerging evidence suggests that increased exposure to artificial light is a risk factor for sleep and circadian disorders. With the prevalent use of LED lighting and device displays, we are subjected to increasing amounts of light in the blue spectrum since commonly used LEDs emit a high fraction of blue light. Blue light may affect human eyes and recent data suggest that extraocular light may impact human brain physiology - (Sun L, et al. Human brain reacts to transcranial extraocular light). The LED technologies are relatively new; therefore, the long-term effects of exposure to blue light across the lifespan are not understood.. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6797782/

So what can we do? Lots of things! I have been experimenting with mitigating my blue light environment by substituting incandescent bulbs for LED’s, red light bulbs as night lights and wearing blue blocking glasses when I’m watching TV or need to look at my cell phone. I can tell you firsthand that the changes are significant. From sleep to mood to energy — there are many positive changes.

My suggestion to clients is always the same in terms of making changes — start small and take baby steps. Do not get overwhelmed with the knowledge. Just know that little changes over time add up. This is how I have always lived my life and have found that it is most doable.

In Light & Love,

-C