Lights OUT for a Healthy Sleep

The bedroom is our most important interior living space. Creating a space which promotes wellness physically and psychologically only makes sense since we spend 1/3rd of our lives there.

Studies have shown how lack of sleep increases risk to heart disease, diabetes, being overweight and depression. Studies showing women who regularly get less than 7 hours of sleep a night have a higher risk of developing high blood pressure while other studies show without enough regular sleep, you will gain weight. Researchers found that an extra 20 minutes of sleep a night might solve the added weight issue.

Lights Out for Sea Turtles – Lights out for Humans! Sea turtles have been negatively affected by man’s light pollution. I live near a beach where the loggerhead sea turtles nest yearly. There are now laws regarding lighting for the condos along the beach, because the light was confusing the sea turtles mistaking it for the moonlight.

Artificial light also negatively affects our health. A 2001 study showed nurses working 30 or more years on night shifts had a 36% higher rate of breast cancer, compared to those who’s worked exclusively days. These studies proved that light will snuff out one of our body’s most powerful anticancer crusaders, a hormone called melatonin. During the day, breast tumors are “awake”. Melatonin, the hormone of darkness, only works in the darkness where it puts breast tumors “to sleep”. When artificial light is added to our night living environments, cancer cells become “insomniacs”.

It is vitally important to create a space in which there is complete darkness while you sleep. If you can “see” your hand after the lights are out, there is too much light. This light “re-sets” your biological clock, disrupting your sleep pattern. Remove all devices which may cause illumination, avoid turning on any lights once you have retired and install black-out blinds made from natural materials on windows to shield any outside lighting entering the room.

Thursday: Scents Make NO SENSE

February: Healthy-n-Green®Interior Design Principle – Safe Sleeping Zone