Post by Atrahasis on Aug 27, 2008 23:57:37 GMT -5
Do you have trouble getting to sleep at nights? Do you often think that your sleep cycle does not match society's "norm"?
If your answer is a yes to either of these, you may have insomnia or a delayed sleep cycle disorder. The good news is that I have the answer for you. Your problem is simply the light that you are exposed to. If you stay up at nights gazing at artificial light sources like TV's, computers, and even the bulb in your room, these lights destroy melatonin production in your body which is the chemical that regulates your circadian cycle, which is the natural 24-hr cycle of Earth organisms (circa = "about", diem = "a day"; "about a day").
Light, especially of the blue wavelength, enters your eyes and your lens, retina, and pineal gland in the center of your brain are prohibited from producing the horomone melatonin, which you need for sleep. Melatonin production peaks at midnight and falls off after that, so in order for you to get a good night's sleep, you have to fall asleep before midnight. Ever work past midnight, and when you pass the 2 am/3 am mark you feel like you've gotten a "second wind" and can work through till morning? That's because the melatonin has worn off and you've just screwed yourself of the powerful health benefits of melatonin, which is an antioxidant that can prevent diseases like cancer.
Night workers who are exposed artificial light during this time over a long period get higher rates of cancer.
But people who can sleep before midnight and wake up according to their biological clock at 7 am benefit from a whole slew of health benefits and may live 20% longer.
How to induce natural sleep in your home in the evenings:
1) Dim ALL the lights in your home after 6pm. Exposure to even an incandescent bulb for 39 mins can destroy your melatonin production. Get yourself a lampstand that you can adjust the brightness of.
2) No computer, no TV after 6pm. Or minimize this as much as possible to only a few hours.
3) Wear glasses or goggles in the evenings that filter out blue light.
4) Buy SYNTHETIC melatonin (the natural form may be taken from animals that may have diseases) and have a pill 90 mins or two hours before your bedtime, which you should make 10 or 11 pm at the latest. Remember it's a powerful and unique antioxidant, so it's good for you, but as with anything new to your body, watch for any potential side effects...but there shouldn't be any! Remember your body makes it, you're just advancing the sleep cycle. A pill should have .5 to 3 mg.
Light Dependence
Production of melatonin by the pineal gland is inhibited by light and permitted by darkness. For this reason melatonin has been called "the hormone of darkness" and its onset each evening is called the Dim-Light Melatonin Onset (DLMO). Secretion of melatonin as well as its level in the blood, peaks in the middle of the night, and gradually falls during the second half of the night, with normal variations in timing according to an individual's chronotype.
Until recent history, humans in temperate climates were exposed to only about six hours of daylight in the winter. In the modern world, artificial lighting reduces darkness exposure to typically eight or fewer hours per day all year round. Even low light levels inhibit melatonin production to some extent, but over-illumination can create significant reduction in melatonin production. Since it is principally blue light that suppresses melatonin,[25] wearing glasses that block blue light[26] in the hours before bedtime may avoid melatonin loss. Use of blue-blocking goggles the last hours before bedtime has also been advised for people who need to adjust to an earlier bedtime, as melatonin promotes sleepiness.
Melatonin levels at night are reduced to 50% by exposure to a low-level incandescent bulb for only 39 minutes, and it has been shown that women with the brightest bathrooms have an increased risk for breast cancer.[27]
Reduced melatonin production has been proposed as a likely factor in the significantly higher cancer rates in night workers,[28] and the effect of modern lighting practice on endogenous melatonin has been proposed as a contributory factor to the larger overall incidence of some cancers in the developed world.[29]
Besides its primary function as synchronizer of the biological clock, melatonin may exert a powerful antioxidant activity. In many lower life forms, it serves only this purpose.[30] Melatonin is an antioxidant that easily can cross cell membranes and the blood-brain barrier.[4] Melatonin is a direct scavenger of OH, O2−, and NO.[31] Unlike other antioxidants, melatonin does not undergo redox cycling, the ability of a molecule to undergo reduction and oxidation repeatedly. Redox cycling may allow other antioxidants (such as vitamin C) to regain their antioxidant properties. Melatonin, on the other hand, once oxidized, cannot be reduced to its former state because it forms several stable end-products upon reacting with free radicals. Therefore, it has been referred to as a terminal (or suicidal) antioxidant.[32]
Antioxidant
In animal models, melatonin has been demonstrated to prevent the damage to DNA by some carcinogens, stopping the mechanism by which they cause cancer.[33] It also has been found to be effective in protecting against brain injury caused by ROS release in experimental hypoxic brain damage in newborn rats.[34] Melatonin's antioxidant activity may reduce damage caused by some types of Parkinson's disease, may play a role in preventing cardiac arrhythmia and may increase longevity; it has been shown to increase the average life span of mice by 20% in some studies.[35][36][37]
Autism
Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) may have lower than normal levels of melatonin. A 2008 study found that unaffected parents of individuals with ASD also have lower melatonin levels, and that the deficits were associated with low activity of the ASMT gene, which encodes the last enzyme of melatonin synthesis.[47]
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melatonin
The flipside of this is if you want to feel more energetic in the daytime, turn on the lights in your house or office, especially the flourescent kind. It'll keep you from getting drowsy.
If your answer is a yes to either of these, you may have insomnia or a delayed sleep cycle disorder. The good news is that I have the answer for you. Your problem is simply the light that you are exposed to. If you stay up at nights gazing at artificial light sources like TV's, computers, and even the bulb in your room, these lights destroy melatonin production in your body which is the chemical that regulates your circadian cycle, which is the natural 24-hr cycle of Earth organisms (circa = "about", diem = "a day"; "about a day").
Light, especially of the blue wavelength, enters your eyes and your lens, retina, and pineal gland in the center of your brain are prohibited from producing the horomone melatonin, which you need for sleep. Melatonin production peaks at midnight and falls off after that, so in order for you to get a good night's sleep, you have to fall asleep before midnight. Ever work past midnight, and when you pass the 2 am/3 am mark you feel like you've gotten a "second wind" and can work through till morning? That's because the melatonin has worn off and you've just screwed yourself of the powerful health benefits of melatonin, which is an antioxidant that can prevent diseases like cancer.
Night workers who are exposed artificial light during this time over a long period get higher rates of cancer.
But people who can sleep before midnight and wake up according to their biological clock at 7 am benefit from a whole slew of health benefits and may live 20% longer.
How to induce natural sleep in your home in the evenings:
1) Dim ALL the lights in your home after 6pm. Exposure to even an incandescent bulb for 39 mins can destroy your melatonin production. Get yourself a lampstand that you can adjust the brightness of.
2) No computer, no TV after 6pm. Or minimize this as much as possible to only a few hours.
3) Wear glasses or goggles in the evenings that filter out blue light.
4) Buy SYNTHETIC melatonin (the natural form may be taken from animals that may have diseases) and have a pill 90 mins or two hours before your bedtime, which you should make 10 or 11 pm at the latest. Remember it's a powerful and unique antioxidant, so it's good for you, but as with anything new to your body, watch for any potential side effects...but there shouldn't be any! Remember your body makes it, you're just advancing the sleep cycle. A pill should have .5 to 3 mg.
Light Dependence
Production of melatonin by the pineal gland is inhibited by light and permitted by darkness. For this reason melatonin has been called "the hormone of darkness" and its onset each evening is called the Dim-Light Melatonin Onset (DLMO). Secretion of melatonin as well as its level in the blood, peaks in the middle of the night, and gradually falls during the second half of the night, with normal variations in timing according to an individual's chronotype.
Until recent history, humans in temperate climates were exposed to only about six hours of daylight in the winter. In the modern world, artificial lighting reduces darkness exposure to typically eight or fewer hours per day all year round. Even low light levels inhibit melatonin production to some extent, but over-illumination can create significant reduction in melatonin production. Since it is principally blue light that suppresses melatonin,[25] wearing glasses that block blue light[26] in the hours before bedtime may avoid melatonin loss. Use of blue-blocking goggles the last hours before bedtime has also been advised for people who need to adjust to an earlier bedtime, as melatonin promotes sleepiness.
Melatonin levels at night are reduced to 50% by exposure to a low-level incandescent bulb for only 39 minutes, and it has been shown that women with the brightest bathrooms have an increased risk for breast cancer.[27]
Reduced melatonin production has been proposed as a likely factor in the significantly higher cancer rates in night workers,[28] and the effect of modern lighting practice on endogenous melatonin has been proposed as a contributory factor to the larger overall incidence of some cancers in the developed world.[29]
Besides its primary function as synchronizer of the biological clock, melatonin may exert a powerful antioxidant activity. In many lower life forms, it serves only this purpose.[30] Melatonin is an antioxidant that easily can cross cell membranes and the blood-brain barrier.[4] Melatonin is a direct scavenger of OH, O2−, and NO.[31] Unlike other antioxidants, melatonin does not undergo redox cycling, the ability of a molecule to undergo reduction and oxidation repeatedly. Redox cycling may allow other antioxidants (such as vitamin C) to regain their antioxidant properties. Melatonin, on the other hand, once oxidized, cannot be reduced to its former state because it forms several stable end-products upon reacting with free radicals. Therefore, it has been referred to as a terminal (or suicidal) antioxidant.[32]
Antioxidant
In animal models, melatonin has been demonstrated to prevent the damage to DNA by some carcinogens, stopping the mechanism by which they cause cancer.[33] It also has been found to be effective in protecting against brain injury caused by ROS release in experimental hypoxic brain damage in newborn rats.[34] Melatonin's antioxidant activity may reduce damage caused by some types of Parkinson's disease, may play a role in preventing cardiac arrhythmia and may increase longevity; it has been shown to increase the average life span of mice by 20% in some studies.[35][36][37]
Autism
Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) may have lower than normal levels of melatonin. A 2008 study found that unaffected parents of individuals with ASD also have lower melatonin levels, and that the deficits were associated with low activity of the ASMT gene, which encodes the last enzyme of melatonin synthesis.[47]
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melatonin
The flipside of this is if you want to feel more energetic in the daytime, turn on the lights in your house or office, especially the flourescent kind. It'll keep you from getting drowsy.
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