Struggling to Fall Asleep? Blue Light is the Culprit
Photo by Adrien Olichon on Unsplash
Blue light is a form of light on the visible light spectrum. It has the shortest wavelength that we can see. Because of its short wavelength, blue light emits the highest energy from a wavelength that we can see. It’s a powerful form of light.
Where does blue light come from?
In nature, the blue light comes exclusively from the sky during the daytime. The blue light you see when you look up to the sky is energy emitted from the sun. It’s light that is scattered from the air particles in the atmosphere.
Nowadays, blue light is used in a lot of technology that we use regularly. Nearly all electronic devices that have screens use blue light. These devices include:
Smartphones
Tablets
Computers
TVs
Vehicles
Video game consoles
Blue light is also used by fluorescent and LED bulbs.
How does blue light affect your sleep?
Blue light negatively impacts our sleep. As humans evolved, we adapted to the day and night cycles caused by the Earth’s rotation on its axis.
The days were filled with blue light emitted from the sun, and then at night, it would be dark. Just like it is now.
As it gets dark out, the hypothalamus in the brain secretes melatonin.
Melatonin is a hormone that helps the body get ready to sleep. This melatonin secretion is controlled by a process called the circadian rhythm.
The circadian rhythm is simply your body’s natural sleep and wake cycle. It syncs with the day and night cycles of the Earth.
Circadian rhythm doesn’t just control your sleep and wake cycle. It also affects hormone production, cell function, metabolism, and more.
Blue light exposure negatively affects our circadian rhythm. It throws our circadian rhythm out of whack. This is because blue light suppresses melatonin secretion.
Any light can suppress melatonin secretion, but blue light suppresses it the most. The body is most sensitive to this wavelength of light.
Studies have found that blue light can also suppress delta brainwaves, which help us fall asleep. While blue light is suppressing delta brainwaves, it is also boosting alpha brainwaves, which makes us alert.
Blue light exposure at night makes it difficult for us to fall asleep. Our sleep quality suffers, and we wake up feeling tired in the morning. And, poor sleep quality can lead to a lot of health problems such as heart problems, high blood pressure, diabetes, depression, cancer, and more.
Check out my blog on sleep to learn more about the importance of good sleep quality here.
How do we get better sleep?
Reducing your blue light exposure is an important factor to improve your sleep quality. If possible, avoid blue light exposure 1 to 3 hours before going to bed. Have your room dimly lit during this time before going to bed so that your body can start secreting melatonin.
Spend your time before bed doing something that doesn’t require blue light, such as reading a book.
If you are going to use an electronic device before going to bed, it’s important to protect yourself from the blue light they emit.
Most devices have blue light filters on them. These filters help reduce the strength of the blue light emitted from the screen of your device. You can also go into your device’s settings and turn on the grayscale, which turns the screen to black and white only.
You can also use blue-light-blocking glasses, which tend to be inexpensive.
References:
https://www.sleepfoundation.org/bedroom-environment/blue-light
https://www.livescience.com/53874-blue-light-sleep.html
https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/blue-light-has-a-dark-side
https://www.naturalstacks.com/blogs/news/blue-lighthttps://spaceplace.nasa.gov/blue-sky/en/