We were designed to sleep at night, when it is totally dark. One part of the human body’s cycle is melatonin production. Melatonin is a hormone that helps us to sleep. The pineal gland, which produces melatonin is very sensitive to light, and shuts down production if there is any light. Even if you get up in the night and turn on the bathroom light, you will shut down production, probably for the rest of the night, because the pineal gland assumes that once it sees light, that it will be light for many more hours. Melatonin is only one part of the wake/sleep cycle that depends on light. The more time you spend in full daylight, during the day, and the more complete the darkness at night, the better you will sleep.
If you have a melatonin deficiency, it may be helpful to take a melatonin supplement or 5HTP, which is an amino acid that is converted into melatonin.
Fear not the darkness of the night, as it soothes you softly into sleep.
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Thank you for this reminder to sleep in complete darkness. The importance seems to go beyond a good night sleep even.
Completely blind women have a very low risk of breast cancer, probably at least 80 percent less than the average woman. On the other side, women who work night shifts, and flight attendants have a higher incidence of breast cancer. Research is starting to implicate melatonin as the responsible factor. Melatonin has an anti-estrogen effect that may explain these findings.
Turn out the lights, all of them, and sleep well!
Lynne Eldridge M.D.
Author, “Avoiding Cancer One Day At A Time”
http://www.avoidcancernow.com
Thanks for that info Lynne. That is good to know.
hi edward great information i really enjoyed the sleeping one as i leave my bathroom light on habit i guess it was for my kids when they were little i guess it is lights out thanks
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