Why Getting the Right Light at Home Matters
All living things have internal clocks that tell the body when to carry out important tasks, such as when to wake up, when to eat, and when to sleep. These clocks largely depend on our exposure to light and darkness. While the evolution of lighting technology has been revolutionary, standard lighting does not have the circadian benefits of natural sunlight — such as promoting alertness, improving cognitive function and regulating circadian rhythms.
The truth is that conventional LEDs and fluorescents are like the high–fructose corn syrup of lighting because they do not emit the sun’s full spectrum of light. And while not all blue light is bad, these light sources primarily emit hazardous blue wavelengths that have been linked to retinal photo-damage and degenerative diseases such as macular degeneration.(1) Overexposure to artificial junk light makes it nearly impossible for the body to know that what time of day it is, which can, in turn, inhibit productivity during the daytime and sleep at night.
Light exposure in the evenings, or lack thereof, is important too because the human body requires timely oscillations between light and dark to keep circadian rhythms on track. When the eyes detect darkness, the pineal gland inside of the brain produces melatonin to help induce sleep. But under the glow of today’s artificial lights, the eyes don’t get enough darkness to know when it should prepare to rest. It’s no wonder that many people go to bed feeling “wired and tired”, and then struggle to wake up and perform their best the next day.