According to a new study, sleeping with the light off could take care of your health.
You have probably already fallen asleep while watching television, watching content on internet or even with the shutters ajar. Unfortunately, these habits are not good for your health. A new study has just pointed out that sleeping with a dim light source increased blood sugar and heart rate.
Sleeping with light impacts health
In order to reach this conclusion, the researchers followed healthy young people. In detail, they participated in a two-night experiment in a sleep laboratory. During this period, the participants were all connected to devices monitoring a number of objective measures of sleep quality.
Dr. Phyllis Zee, director of the Center for Circadian and Sleep Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, explains: “We recorded the brain waves and were able to tell what stage of sleep the person was in. We recorded their breathing, heart rate, electrocardiogram, and we also took blood samples from them to measure melatonin levels while they slept.”
In detail, the study came to explain that even a tiny amount of light creates a slow wave and rapid eye movement sleep deficit. This represents the stages of sleep during which most cell turnover occurs. On top of that, the heart rate was higher, insulin resistance had increased, and the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems were out of balance.
“Be sure to start dimming your lights at least an hour or two before you go to bed to prepare your environment for sleep,” the researchers recommended to ensure a good night’s sleep. They also advise banishing lights present in the blue spectrum, especially those emitted by televisions, computers, smartphones or even tablets. “If you must have a light on for safety reasons, change the color and choose lights that have more reddish or brownish tones,” they add.