Fascinating sleep & wakefulness study out of University of Colorado just published yesterday in Current Biology tinyurl/m7ague5 Blame our poor sleep, morning sleepiness, need for alarm clocks & messed up circadian rhythms on the ELECTRIC LIGHT BULB. Volunteers completely changed their sleep habits after just one week of backpacking & syncing their internal clocks to natural light & darkness. Excerpt: The experiment: In the wilderness, the subjects got the same amount of sleep as back in civilization. But their internal clocks jumped ahead two hours, on average, says lead researcher, Kenneth Wright. So they went to bed earlier and woke up just after the chemicals in their brain told them it was time to rise and shine. (Before the camping trip, people were actually waking up before their brains told them to.) "Individuals who had the latest bedtimes back at home had the larger shift in their internal clocks after camping," Wright says. Essentially, everyone became a morning person. Why wilderness camping changed sleep habits: Two factors contributed to the change: Everyone got exposed to about FOUR TIMES as many photons while camping than they did in town (because sunshine is much brighter than indoor lighting). And the timing of the light was different. In the wilderness, people were exposed to more light early in the day and less after sunset. How to do this at home: 1, "We can achieve earlier bedtimes by having people be outside more, especially in the morning," Wright says. 2. "You could start your day with a morning walk. Raise the shades in the house. Or if you read the newspaper, do it outside." 3. "On the flip side," he says, "reduce exposure to light at night by dimming the lights or computers. This is especially important within the hour prior before bedtime."
Posted on: Fri, 02 Aug 2013 11:45:44 +0000
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