Why morning blue lightweight therapy can improve sleep and daily activity in the elderly

What if a straightforward change in the morning exposure to lightweight can support you sleep better?

Our sleep patterns change during our life, and when we get senior, we tend to sleep well and feel good rest the next day.

Older adults – 60 years and more – generally Less deep sleep And wake up more often at night. They too sleep for shorter periodsIN Wake up earlier in the morning and Feel sleepy during the day.

Delicate, especially lightweight enriched with blue (which has more blue colors, such as lightweight at noon), an vital game role In how well we sleep. This is due to the fact that our internal body clock in the brain is influenced by our sleep time and quality – a selected peri -circle clock – which is based on traffic lights and darkness to remain synchronized with the external environment.

To achieve this, people specialized Photoreceptors -Cells detecting the lightweight on the back of the eyes-who are very sensitive to blue lightweight. This is likely Because we have evolved to see the natural lightweight blue sky during the day, not electric lamps at home, which are much less vivid – or blue.

Our eyes with age Change: The lens becomes thicker and yellow, and our student size and the number of photojceptors decrease. Therefore, less lightweight reaches the biological clock in our brain, which hinders time and regulate our sleep cycles.

Even worse, the electric lightweight and vivid screens of contemporary society at night deceive our body clock in thinking that he still sees lightweight. Vivid lightweight at night further contributes to disruptions In our circulatory system – quality and time of sleep.

Can improvement of internal lighting provide easier, inexpensive and drug-free solution to these problems? Our latest study, published in GeroscienceHe suggests that he can.

Will remain clear

We have resumed older adults (over 60 years) with sleep problems to take part in the study. We asked them to track lightweight therapy routine, in which they served blue lightweight at home, sitting in front of lightweight boxes. Every morning they spent two hours exposed to blue or ordinary white lightweight, dealing with their ordinary classes, such as reading or watching TV.

The participants of the study wore the wrists on the wrists to measure the level of activity and sleep patterns. We discovered that people exposed to more hours of blue lightweight in the morning had a better sleep and a more stable daily activity – probably because of the better synchronization of the body’s internal clock with the external environment.

Our findings are particularly stimulating, because despite the mess in real conditions-the corant people naturally began lightweight therapy earlier, and the night owls were delayed-they are in line with the arrangements controlled laboratory studiesemphasizing the true potential of home lightweight interventions for better sleep.

Read more: Why night owls fight more when the clocks come back

We also discovered that those who spent more time outside in natural daylight were more dynamic during the day and went to sleep earlier. It could be therefore bright light helps to maintain vigilance During the day they make us naturally tired before bedtime.

Delicate and obscure

Good lightweight exposure is in the morning, not only vivid lightweight, but also with enough darkness at night. Our study showed that those who spent more time lightweight in the evening – either blue or white – actually experienced, worsened their sleep, devoting more time to falling asleep and more restless nights.

This can be explained warning the effects of light and suppressing the night hormone, melatonin, which can delay the natural process down.

Read more: Can melatonin supplements really “reverse” DNA damage caused by a lack of sleep?

Sleep problems are not only frustrating, they can also lead to health problems such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, depression and anxiety, cognitive decline and reduced performance.

Although we cannot solve many sleep problems affecting people, we can offer a possible solution for some: exposure to more morning light-overpassing curtains, going outside for a walk, and even using a vivid, enriched with a blue lightweight source.

So why not try yourself for a few days – and let us know how you are doing.