How Light Influences the Length and Quality of Your Sleep
There are numerous internal and external factors influencing the quality and quantity of your sleep. Understanding these different factors can you better manage chronic sleep issues and get to the bottom of seemingly serious reasons behind why you miss out on a good night's rest often.
One of these crucial factors is light, a key factor in regulating your sleep and biological clock. But how does exposure to light or darkness actually govern your sleep?
For starters, getting exposed to lights stimulated a nerve pathway from your eye to parts of your brain controlling hormones, body temperature, as well as other functions playing a role in sleepiness or a state of being wide awake. Therefore too much light right before your bedtime may be a hindrance to getting a good night sleep.
According to one study, exposure to unnatural light cycles can affect your health, including your risks of getting depressed. Light influences your internal clock via specialized "light sensitivity" cells in the retina of the eyes - cells that occupy the same space as the other things that make vision possible, dictating to the brain that it is daytime or nighttime.
Thanks to the invention of the electric light bulb in the late 1800s, humans are now exposed to much more light during nighttime than during the whole evolutionary process. This certainly affects your sleep patterns! Thus regulating light exposure can help keep your circadian rhythms in check, as well as set the stage for restful sleep at night. Here are some steps to observe:
At daytime, expose yourself to sunlight, or buy a light-box or light visor that will supplement your exposure to light.
At nighttime, keep your sleep environment dark through light-blocking curtains or drapes, as well as an eye mask to help you shut the light out. Avoid as much light as possible through a low illumination nightlight.
If you're a night worker, sleep during the day wearing dark glasses or a reliable eye mask to block out the sunlight or limit light exposure. According to some studies, your body may not fully adapt to shift work, so make the effort to establish a sleep routine such as when you're returning to a normal sleep schedule in the weekends.
Limit your use of your smartphone or gadgets before bedtime. Try to minimize their use in the bedroom to cultivate good sleep habits.
Remember that these tips are especially important for babies and children, as sleep in a cornerstone of their health and development, and good sleep habits can determine their mental and physical progress down the road. Note, too, that circadian rhythms develop at around 6 weeks; by up to 6 months, most babies have adopted a regular sleep-wake cycle.
Other factors to consider include temperature, since extreme ones in sleeping environments can result in disrupted sleep. REM sleep, to, is typically more sensitive to temperature-related disruptions, such as very cold temperatures.
Learn more about how light influences the length and quality of your sleep. Also learn over the counter sleep aids and melatonin sleep aid.
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