Do You Sleep With Lights On? A study showed that one night of sleep with moderate lighting in the room can have adverse effects on body’s metabolism.
Personal preference, fear of darkness, fear of falling and others might be reasons why some people like to sleep with lights on at night
I can’t sleep without some light entering my room at night. I am in my late-twenties and have been sleeping with lights on for quite some years now. While it has been a non-bothersome habit for me, some new studies have made me think otherwise.
Some studies have been suggesting that people who sleep with lights on at night could be unintentionally keeping their nervous system awake and are more prone to cardio-metabolic disorders in the long run. A study showed that one night of sleep with moderate lighting in the room can have adverse effects on body’s metabolism.
The study conducted showed that when healthy adults were made to sleep in a room having moderate night time light, it resulted in increased heart rate and increased insulin resistance next morning as compared to those adults who slept without lights or slept in dimly lit rooms.
‘As if the brain and heart knew that light was on’
The Study Light exposure during sleep impairs cardio-metabolic function, published in PNAS involved 20 healthy adults for a sleep-lab study. While a group of 10 adults were made to sleep in a dimly lit room for two days in a row, the other 10 were made to sleep in dim lighting for first night followed by sleeping in a moderately lit room for the next day. The findings showed that the second group that was made to sleep in a moderately lit room had elevated heart rates, decrease in heart rate variability and some insulin resistance in the following morning.
The study showed that night time exposure to light could possibly increase the risk for developing diabetes and cardio-metabolic disorders. The researchers also observed that most of the volunteers were essentially not disturbed by the presence of the light but their parameter suggested that the light had been activating their sympathetic system at night and was trying to keep them alert. There have been other studies in the past that have shown some association between sleeping with lights on at night and obesity.
Disrupting biological cycle
You must know that your body has a clock. The physical and mental changes caused by this clock are called circadian rhythms. It might be interesting to know that the function of this clock is not limited to waking and sleeping. They also affect your hormones, body temperature, hunger and other life-sustaining processes. Melatonin is a hormone produced by the pineal gland that promotes sleep in response to darkness. Science shows that the production of this hormone is affected by light exposure. Some studies have also shown that blue light coming from our electronics and LEDs can affect our circadian rhythm in large ways. Sleeping with lights on not only disrupts the biological cycle but also will also result in fragmented sleep cycles that are crucial for body rejuvenation and repair. As per experts, light cannot be totally eliminated from your room but we can try to sleep in as much darkness as we can practically create. As per some reports, dim red lights have been found to have comparatively less detrimental effects on sleep other than its other counterparts. Home
