Suppression of melatonin secretion in some blind patients by exposure to bright light.Ĭzeisler CA, Shanahan TL, Klerman EB, Martens H, Brotman DJ, Emens JS, Klein T, Rizzo JF 3rd. Published in final edited form as: Sleep Med Clin. Author manuscript available in PMC 2010 June 1. PMID: 12970330 Įffect of Light on Human Circadian Physiology High sensitivity of the human circadian melatonin rhythm to resetting by short wavelength light. The human circadian system adapts to prior photic historyĪnne-Marie Chang, Frank A J L Scheer, Charles A Czeisler The following bibliography includes the NIH-published versions of some of the work done at Brigham and Women's Hospital (Harvard Medical School).Įxposure to Room Light before Bedtime Suppresses Melatonin Onset and Shortens Melatonin Duration in Humans If you've tried to search for journal articles and read them online, you know that a large number of scientific journals today are difficult to access, except from within an institution that subscribes. NIH-funded research is available in its full text online. Holzman does a survey paper on the effects of blue light, with citations as early as 1958. What's in a Color? The Unique Human Health Effects of Blue Light.Įnviron Health Perspect 118:A22-A27. What's in a Color? The Unique Human Health Effects of Blue Light Many studies before this used light sources that you could believe were "like" these newer displays, but this paper tests the exact kind of backlight that we all use many hours a day. Popular press coverage of blue light research In Eyes, a Clock Calibrated by Wavelengths of LightĬites work by Cajochen et al in the May issue of The Journal of Applied Physiology.Ĭhristian Cajochen's lab did the first work we know of that uses real LED displays and measures them against older computer monitors. The "References" section is more up to date, so for a current view of the circadian impact of light and some nice visualizations, we recommend taking a look. Our f.luxometer project collects data for dozens of devices and filters (available for re-use). Many are familiar with the "rods and cones" that provide our visual capabilities, but the retinal ganglion cells containing melanopsin are sensitive to a wide range of "blue-green" frequencies around 480nm.Ī wide range of lights appear to be able to stimulate the circadian system in humans, and so while we refer to "blue light" in order to distinguish it from the light our visual system sees, it includes lights that appear green, blue, cyan, and even orange. The science that explains these new systems has accelerated over the last 20 years, with the discovery of a new photopigment in the eye, called Melanopsin, in 1998. We know that night-time exposure to blue light makes people more alert and also affects their circadian timing. This effect can be minimized by using dim red lighting in the nighttimeīedroom environment." Blue Light Affects Sleep (and here's why) "Recognizes that exposure to excessive light at night, including extended use of variousĮlectronic media, can disrupt sleep or exacerbate sleep disorders, especially in children andĪdolescents. In 2012, the American Medical Association's Council on Science and Public Health made this recommendation: In 2014, a new study was published in PNAS (full text) that compares the effects of reading an iPad before bed, versus a regular paper book. Manuel Spitschan gives a wonderful overview of how the circadian system responds to light: Enlighten Your Clock Reading on a tablet compared with a book This comic book by Coline Weinzaepflen and Dr. Lecture on "Electrical Units of Measurement" (), published in Popular Lectures Vol. I often say that when you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind it may be the beginning of knowledge, but you have scarcely, in your thoughts, advanced to the stage of science, whatever the matter may be.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |