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Small Cabin Forum / Useful Links and Resources / Blue Light Disrupts Natural Sleep Patterns
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rockies
Member
# Posted: 8 Apr 2018 18:36
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On the show "The Nature of Things: Lights Out" they discussed how the bodies natural circadian rhythms (sleep cycle) can be disrupted by typical late night light bulbs.

http://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/episodes/lights-out

Apparently the use of light bulbs that emit a lot of "blue light" are the worst culprits, such as compact florescent and LED.

http://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/features/sleep-tips

This is ironic since the most efficient bulbs for someone living off grid are both of these types. There are bulbs available though that block out the most disruptive wavelengths of blue light (from 450-480 nm).

https://www.lsgc.com/products/good-night-led-sleep-improving-light

Another source of sleep disruption is the amount of blue light from computer and TV screens.

https://lowbluelights.com/

http://www.hobbr.com/blue-light-blocking-products/

Some other tips for better sleep are to completely black out the bedroom windows at night, don't have any source of light inside the room, and if you must use a nightlight you should use a red bulb which will emit light that doesn't interrupt the sleep cycle (even clicking on a small white light for a minute at 3 AM to go to the bathroom will shut down the bodies production of the sleep hormone melatonin for up to 90 minutes).

Nate R
Member
# Posted: 8 Apr 2018 20:23
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Good to see some attention on this. Exactly why I don't have LED lights right now. They're getting better, though. Orange ones/vintage style, etc. (No/not much blue component.) But I can't stand some of the LED streetlights my city is installing, the blue intensity almost hurts!

I sleep with blackout curtains, tape over any blinking lights, clocks, etc. I use a blue light blocking app on my phone to change screen colors after dark. It's made my sleep notably better!

bobrok
Member
# Posted: 9 Apr 2018 09:23 - Edited by: bobrok
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My Samsung smartphone (and perhaps others as well) has an on/off blue light filter setting specifically for the above mentioned purpose.

If you use your phone at bedtime it could be worth it to check around in the display settings area to see if you have this feature.

Atlincabin
Member
# Posted: 9 Apr 2018 14:40
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Good info, thanks.

Bushwhacked
Member
# Posted: 10 Apr 2018 23:41
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I first heard about led troubles from a guy in Home Depot. I was standing there looking at work lights cuz a couple of my guys "lost one".

I was making small talk when the guy next to me was looking at the Halogen style ones, by saying something like "those sure are hot to work close to~!".

He laughed and saw me looking at the LED ones and said "well at least I wont go blind. You should google LED issues with eyes".

Yea go figure I hear about it from another customer in a hardware store.

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