I serendipitously came across the concept of
Light Therapy and was amazed to find its veracity in revving up body’s immune
system. This concept affirms that getting the right type of light and at right
time can bestow good health. I could draw close congruence to early morning Hindu
rituals, religiously practiced by ardent Hindus who accord paramount
importance to these formalities. These rituals were believed to confer stable health. Enthused by the relevance of the concept to
traditional Hindu culture, I started reading about Satchin
Panda, a Professor of molecular biology at Salk Institute for Biological
Studies, La Jolla, California who did a phenomenal work in the field of light therapy. I was amazed by
the sheer size of the research projects carried under the huge banner of light
and its effects on health. The enthusiasts of the research included not only
scientists but architects, engineers, ophthalmologists, health conscious
volunteers and doctors.
Over the course
of human history sunlight has been the quintessential component guiding various
activities of our lives. People used to work outdoors under the sun for the major
part of the day and would retire back to indoors as dusk began to reign in. Following
rapid strides in technology most of us began working in cloistered dim cabins
during the day and as the day fades out we hanker for brightly lit dining rooms
at night. With the result days have become gloomier and nights dazzling. These
massive changes in life style made a severe dent on our biological clock or the
internal clock that decides the sleep-wake cycle. It is now too late to realise
the ill effects of this reversal of light exposure and now Scientists worry
that this new trend would cause long term damage to health.
As human
civilisation began to progress, exposure to natural light has slowly
diminished. Right from the discovery of fire, the influence of natural light
began to drop down slowly as primitive men began to enliven their caves and
later came the era of candles and finally with the commercialisation of
incandescent bulbs, people began to clamour for more light during nights. Now
the illumination has brightened our lives in the form of steadily lit lap-top
screens, video games and uninterrupted TV watching during nights. Undaunted by
rising or setting of sun we are now the masters of light. The consequence is
less sleep. National Sleep Foundation in US has reported that sleeping hours
have become six hours or fewer across various nations.
Sleep has an
important consequence on body. If we don’t sleep we die. A tired body is less
productive, more forgetful and liable to make mistakes. Sleep enhances body’s
immune system whereas a deprivation of the same can make us susceptible to
cancer, heart attacks and depression. Depression can lead to overeating which
leads to chronic metabolic diseases like diabetes and obesity. While sleep
deprived adults become sluggish and lethargic, kids become hyperactive,
distractible and seek more attention.
Just as
gloomy wintery mornings trigger a form of depression, in absence of sunlight.
Light exposure during day is associated with several beneficial consequences-
as brighter environments tend to boost energy and make people more active and
alert. Ample doses of daylight were found to greatly boost the recovery
post-surgery even.
Light is
very important as it affects our biological clock which controls our sleep-wake
cycle. It affects our psychology, physiology and mood too. Getting natural
light is important and it is different from other sources of light. Basically
our eyes can perceive three main colours-blue, red and green each vibrating at
different wave lengths. In the morning there are high concentrations of blue light
and by dusk we have red and green light. Blue light has the greatest impact on
the circadian system (biological clock) telling brain that it is morning, a
time to be alert. It also sets the clock for the day. When the internal signals
of the body clock are in sync with the external cues of day and light we sleep
soundly. The problem with electric light is that it has high intensities of
blue light. It deceives the brain into thinking that it is day time even when
it isn’t. Hence high intensity bright lights that bombard us at nights would
badly disrupt the internal clock. The mixed messages of gloomy mornings send a
weak signal to be alert while an over-bright evening urges the brain to be
awake. Together, this leads to disturbed sleep or insomnia.
There are
receptors in the body that sense blue light and tell the brain when to sleep
and stay awake. One such receptor is melanopsin, which responds to blue light
and was well characterised by Prof Satchin. Our window to World and its
enamoured creations is eye and light has a major role to play in improving the
longevity of eyesight. As we get older, eye lens becomes yellow and
consequently less light reaches the receptor at the back of the eye to tell the
brain about what time it is. Hence older people need more daytime light to reset
body clock. Opaque lens most often lead to improper sleep and depressed moods.
Just as subdued day light has a problem, bright light, particularly the blue
light at night might cause severe headaches most common among
techies. Another interesting research revealed that adults who used iPad 2 hrs.
before sleep suppressed the production of melatonin, a sleep-promoting hormone.
Further old people who receive at least 2hrs of daylight were found to have
less sleep disturbances more common for that age.
The real
crux of having a healthy life lies in synchronising the circadian (biological)
system with day and night patterns of nature. Simple solution lies in
regularising our sleep habits like waking up early and going to bed early at same time on all days, including weekends;
keeping away from electronic gadgets that emit bright light before day time and
by spending more time outdoors with family and friends during day. Simply put a
bright light put off at night might add more years to our lives!
Sometimes,
nature’s gift which we meekly undermine seems to have greatest influence on our
lives. Sunlight, the freely available source of energy and light is perhaps one
such immutable and treasured gift of nature to human beings......
@ Copyrights reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment