2840: Exit Light, Enter Night by Margo White with Les Mills on How to Improve Sleep Quality

[00:00:00] Ein Feierabendbier, perfekt zum Abschalten. Ein Glas Wein, gut fürs Herz. Aber was, wenn das nur Mythen sind? Die Wahrheit, Alkohol ist die gefährlichste Droge der Welt. Und wir feiern sie täglich. Warum ist Alkohol für Frauen so verlockend und so gefährlich? Wie beeinflusst die Alkoholindustrie unser Leben? Höchste Zeit, darüber zu sprechen. Dirty Little Secrets – Warum wir immer weiter trinken. Die Dokuserie jetzt exklusiv streamen in der ARD Mediathek.

[00:00:30] Das ist Optimal Health Daily. Exit Light, Enter Night by Margo White with LesMills.com. Und ich bin Dr. Neal, your host und narrator. Hey there, Happy Monday. Thank you so much for being here and welcome back to a new week of Optimal Health Daily. This is where I read to you from some of the best health and fitness blogs on the web, kind of like an ongoing audiobook. Alright, and with that, let's get right to today's post as we optimize your life.

[00:01:02] Exit Light, Enter Night by Margo White with LesMills.com. For billions of years, life on Earth has relied on the rhythms of day and night. They are embedded in our circadian rhythms, in the DNA of plants, insects, animals, and even bacteria. But then we got electricity, and there was light. Lots and lots of light. Light from our homes and businesses.

[00:01:28] Car lights, street lights, stadium lights, illuminated billboards, and tiny screens. We might live in environmentally conscious times, but how often do you think of the impact of anthropogenic light pollution? If you have ever looked up at the night sky a long way from any town or city, you may have been startled by the sight of so many stars. You wouldn't be alone. According to a research article published in Science Advances in 2016,

[00:01:56] a third of humanity is living with so much light pollution they can't see the Milky Way, including 60% of Europeans and nearly 80% of North Americans. In short, many of us are missing out on something magical, which has occupied the human imagination for millions of years. The paper's authors write, quote, Most of the world is affected by this problem, and humanity has enveloped our planet in a luminous fog

[00:02:23] that prevents most of Earth's population from having an opportunity to observe our galaxy. This has a consequent potential impact on culture that is of unprecedented magnitude. End quote. There are health as well as cultural implications. In humans, light suppresses melatonin, the hormone we produce at night in order to sleep. While these effects might be relatively small from night to night,

[00:02:49] continuous chronic circadian sleep disruption could be leading to longer-term health risks, including cancer. This is most apparent among shift workers. In 2007, the World Health Organization listed circadian disruption resulting from shift work as a probable carcinogen, where carcinogen simply refers to something that may cause cancer. Circadian disruption has also been linked with headaches, anxiety, and medically defined stress.

[00:03:19] It's not all about us, though. The way we light the night can cause birds to sing at the wrong time of day, to migrate at the wrong time of season, and head off in the wrong direction to die after colliding with buildings and towers after being attracted to the lights. Turtle hatchlings are another well-known casualty. When they emerge from their nests, they find their way to the ocean by moving away from the dark silhouette of dunes and vegetation, but artificial lighting can send them off track.

[00:03:48] A 2012 study of leatherback turtles on the Caribbean island of Tobago found that artificial lighting of the nesting beaches was the biggest threat to the survival of hatchlings, and a major factor in declining leatherback turtle populations. We're only beginning to understand the impact that all that light is having on the ecological environment and on us. What makes it worse is that much of it is wasted light and a waste of energy.

[00:04:15] Richard Stevens, professor in the School of Medicine at the University of Connecticut, was recently interviewed for Fit Planet on the importance of circadian rhythms and the detrimental effect on human health when those rhythms are disrupted by too much light. He says, Quote, 20% of electricity consumption is for lighting, and at least 30% of that is wasted. Not just human health is being affected. The impact on all other life forms is tremendous. End quote.

[00:04:45] It's also, he says, a significant contributor to climate change, particularly global warming. Quote, With all the electricity from fossil fuel combustion being used to put photos in the sky that are totally wasted. End quote. Quote, We have the technology to do something about this. We just need to use it. The International Sky Dark Sky Association says on its website, Quote, The fact is that much outdoor lighting used at night is inefficient, overly bright, poorly targeted,

[00:05:15] improperly shielded, and, in many cases, completely unnecessary. End quote. They go on to say that much of the light and the electricity used to create it is being wasted spilling into the sky, rather than being focused on the actual objects and areas that people want illuminated. What can you do about light pollution? You could start by only using lighting when and where it's needed. Turn the lights off in the rooms you're not using, and close the blinds or pull the curtains to keep the light inside.

[00:05:45] You could think about whether your outdoor lighting could be polluting the night with lights that you think deters burglars, but probably isn't, and interfering with your neighbor's circadian rhythms. This is known as light trespass. A number of cities in the U.S. have developed standards to protect the rights of their citizens against it. Actually, there's no good evidence that lighting reduces crime, but if it does provide you with a sense of security, then shield your security lights,

[00:06:12] or add a motion sensor so it's activated only when needed. The IDA website includes numerous educational resources, as well as consumer guides for those keen to help protect the night skies. That includes a database of outdoor lighting fixtures it has certified as dark sky friendly under its own fixture seal of approval program. It also has recommendations for the best types of light. It recommends warm light for outdoor lighting, and has compiled a LED lighting guide

[00:06:41] to help lighting designers and public officials understand and reduce the impact of this very modern and powerful form of lighting. LED lights might be transforming the way we light urban environments, but they often include large amounts of blue-rich light, which brightens the night sky more than any other color of light, and has been shown to be hazardous for human health and wildlife. In other words, we need to think and talk more about light.

[00:07:09] As Stevens argued in a paper published in the Royal Society Science Journal, Philosophical Transactions, Just as technology used to artificially light the night exploded during the 20th century, more modern technology, a field called photonics, is making it possible to light up our world more efficiently, with less waste, and, quote,

[00:07:42] You just listened to the post titled Exit Light, Enter Night by Margot White with LesMills.com And I'll be right back with my commentary. Überlass deine gesunde Ernährung und die Gains nicht nur deinem Bauchgefühl. Denn bei der Ernährung gaukelt uns unser innerer Schweinehund manchmal ganz schön was vor. Sag stattdessen Hallo zu deinem neuen Coach, Yasio. Yasio ist die meistgenutzte Ernährungs-App Europas, made in Germany.

[00:08:11] Egal ob Massephase oder ein bisschen abnehmen, tracke Kalorien, Proteine, Carbs, Fette, Bewegung und Intervallfasten. Und mit den Tasty-Rezepten bist du ready für deine Ziele. Let's go! Lade die Yasio-App jetzt herunter! Dr. Neil here for my commentary. By the way, extra credit if you knew where the inspiration for the title of this post came from. It took all of my willpower to not want to start singing Enter Sandman in Metallica frontman James Hetfield's voice.

[00:08:39] Anywho, back to the topic. One of the easiest things you can do right now to try and reduce blue light exposure and hopefully get better sleep is to change the settings on your devices. Cell phones, laptops, and tablets, especially. For each, turn on the eye comfort shield or blue light filter function. And if you must stare at a screen before bed, then consider making the screen less bright in addition to using the eye comfort shield or blue light filter functions.

[00:09:09] Just these couple of modifications may help you get a better night's sleep, which to me makes them definitely worth a try. Alright, that'll do it for another edition of Optimal Health Daily. Thank you so much for being here. I hope you have a great rest of your day, and I'll see you back here tomorrow with another post and where your optimal life awaits. I hope you have a great rest of your day. I hope you have a great rest of your day. I hope you have a great rest of your day. Thank you. Thank you.