After three full days of editing images, my eyes are tired. Working on computers all day can cause eye strain. As technology advances, screens have also encroached into our night as well. It is now fairly common knowledge that looking at screens with backlit lights (such as computers and smartphones) at night can affect the quality of our sleep. There have been numerous studies that show that the production of melatonin is suppressed as a direct result of exposure to the blue light waves emitted from screen technology.
Melatonin is a hormone that is produced by the pineal gland in the brain. Melatonin levels vary cyclically and are controlled by our body clock. During the day time, our melatonin levels are almost non existent. However at night, the levels increase and helps to establish the conditions for sleep. Our core body temperature also goes down at this time.
Quality sleep is essential for well being. Personally, it is an area of health that I have tended to disregard but with my commitment now being well, I need to consider the ramifications more seriously. I tend to sleep little, but when fatigue set in I crash big time. In the past, I have often wondered how much my "unnatural" patterns of wakefulness and sleep contributed to my onset of MS.
Today I came across this interesting article which discusses the harm that we can cause ourselves by disrupting our natural production of melatonin. The reality is that few of us can readily extract ourselves from screen interaction at night - be it work driven or an obsession with our phones and lap tops. There are some simple solutions including wearing amber coloured glasses at night when doing screen work. These glasses block the blue light waves and allows for the natural production of melatonin. I am now considering buying myself some of these glasses to test the claims.
During the day time, light is essential to improve our wakefulness. Getting ourselves some sunshine exposure in the mornings, not only helps with getting our required dosage of Vitamin D, but also the natural sunlight (which contains a lot of blue lightwaves), prepared the body for the day ahead. I am sure you know the feeling of waking up to gorgeous sunshine streaming through the window - we get a natural burst of happiness.
Flying Solo Tip 035365 : Seek simple solutions.