Blue Light Exposure – Did you know?

Blue light exposure close to bedtime can disrupt the sleep/wake cycle,your circadian rhythm.

Which is why becoming device free a couple of hours before bed, is one of my recommendations for a blissful bed time routine in my 21 days to FLY ebook!

Why is your circadian rhythm important?

Circadian rhythm is responsible for:

• hormone secretion
• nerve signaling (neurotransmission)
• The brain’s ability to adapt (plasticity) to changing situations.

Excessive blue light can cause sleep and mood disorders, which may lead to depression due the brains lack of plasticity!

What is blue light?

Blue light is one of the colors in the visible color spectrum that combine to form white light. Each color in the light spectrum has a different wavelength, frequency and energy level.

Violet light:has the shortest wavelength in the visible color spectrum at around 400 nanometers (nm)

Red light:at the other end of the spectrum at the highest 700 nm wavelength.

Blue light:high frequency light with short wavelengths between 450 and 495 nm.

Sunlight is the primary source of blue light during the day, but fluorescent lights and light-emitting diodes (LED) also emit blue light. Electronic devices such as television (although not as powerful because they are not hand held or directly in your energy field like computers) smartphones, computers and tablets have LEDs that emit blue light ranging from 400 nm to 490 nm.

Please note: Visible blue light is different from blue light therapy that uses ultraviolet (UV) rays to treat some skin conditions!

This week my FLY girls and I have been saying how we miss the early sunrise and it takes a real commitment to get up for ourselves for the 6.30am class!This is not surprising as sunlight is one of the most important environmental factors that influence our brain.

Light from the sun travels rapidly through the atmosphere. The shorter, high energy blue wavelengths collide with the air molecules causing blue light to scatter everywhere. … In its natural form, your body uses blue light from the sun to regulate our circadian rhythms which we know is essential to keep us healthy and soul full!

Among all colors in the spectrum, blue light has the greatest response from our brains. As discussed light plays an important role in sending signals to the brain to release the right kind of hormones depending on the time of day and the needs of our body.

In the morning, blue light signals the brain to lower the level of melatonin hormone that regulates the body’s circadian rhythm and energy metabolism. The drop in melatonin is the signal for hormones such as serotonin which raises our energy and readiness for the day.

In the evening, the fading light signals the brain to raise the melatonin levels, improving our night time sleep.

Back in the day before the invention of artificial light, sunlight was the main source of blue light, and our circadian rhythm was in synchrony with the 24-hour solar day.

Today, we have bright lights that provide us security in the night and help us run essential services such as care homes and hospitals through the night. As well as constantly using many LED-lit electronic devices which emit strong blue light.

While night lights and electronic devices improve our lives in many ways, I for one connect with my community, teach classes and run my business from them! We can have too much of a good thing too late in the day!

Blue light too late at night will prevent us from having a good night’s sleep because our bodies are fooled into thinking it is still day time so melatonin which prepares us for sleep will not be produced as effectively! This is why to FLY we go device free before bed time!

The following are some steps you can take to limit blue light exposure:

• Limit your screen time by putting away your devices two to three hours before bedtime.
• If you are a night shift worker and cannot avoid blue light, try wearing blue light glasses which block some of the blue light.
• Reduce the screen brightness in your device or use night light mode, if available.
• Use a dim red light if you do use a night light when sleeping.
• Mediate to increase your melatonin levels (during my 21 days to FLY I can guide you how to do this one minute at a time)

If you would like more love and support to create your blissful bedtime ritual come and join my next 21 days to FLY so you can find your natural rhythm to liberation! I will see you there to create our own light 

Next 21 Days starts Feb 7th details below!