Sleep is critical to health, but sleeping in a dark room is also important.
We need darkness to get all the benefits of a good night’s sleep and more people are exposed to artificial light at night. Whether it is sleeping in a slightly lit room, outside lights, or technology, all of this light is increasing the risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
When you are exposed to light during the night, your heart rises, and you don’t rest properly in a bedroom with light. A new study links ambient light at night to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and insulin resistance. The author of this new study Dr. Phyllis Zee, chief of sleep medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a Northwestern Medicine physician, says,
The results from this study demonstrate that just a single night of exposure to moderate room lighting during sleep can impair glucose and cardiovascular regulation, which are risk factors for heart disease, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome. It’s important for people to avoid or minimize the amount of light exposure during sleep. Heart rate increases when sleeping in a room with light.
Dr Phyllis Zee
Ambient light and your health
Dr. Daniela Grimaldi, co-author and research assistant professor of neurology at Northwestern, explains the connection,
“Even though you are asleep, your autonomic nervous system is activated. That’s bad. Usually, your heart rate together with other cardiovascular parameters is lower at night and higher during the day.”
Dr Daniela Grimaldi
The research showed insulin resistance after a single night of sleep in a room with light.
Light causes weight gain
Another study in JAMA Internal Medicine followed healthy people who were exposed to light during sleep. The people with light exposure were more likely to gain weight. 40% of the people studied indicated they slept with light or television on or were exposed to urban light.
Losing sleep also affects your heart while exercising. People who do intense exercise after 3 nights of abnormal sleep have increased levels of troponin, a biomarker of heart injury when compared to the same people who had a normal night of sleep. When sleep is continuously disrupted or shortened, the risk of cardiovascular disease and high blood pressure increases.
To get the best sleep possible, close your blinds or have blackout curtains, and turn off all the lights. It is an easy way to improve your health.
Change your mind, change your health,
Shayla
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