Toxicity and infection are the cause of chronic disease at the very core. One toxin that is often overlooked and ignored is blue light. Blue light is the artificial light emitted from the fluorescent and LED light bulbs in your home, work and school, your phone, computer, tablet and television, LED alarm clocks and street lights. It was only 150 years ago that humans were exposed to no artificial light at all. The only light we were exposed to at night was moon light, dim candle light and the orange light of a fire. We have not evolved to deal with chronic blue light exposure.
Blue light exposure acts as a mitochondrial poison*, disrupts the circadian rhythm and prevents the production of melatonin that results in issues falling asleep and staying asleep. Melatonin is also crucial for the brain to detox efficiently. Blue light exposure has been shown in studies to increase blood pressure and has also been linked to insulin resistance, weight gain (especially around the waistline due to excess cortisol), mood disorders, eye damage, increased night time cortisol and cancer.
*The mitochondria are responsible for making ATP that your cells use for energy. If the mitochondria inside the trillions of cells in your body are poisoned, sufficient energy will not be produced and this affects every single system of the body.
Being exposed to artifical blue light at night sends a signal to the brain that it is daylight and that you need to stay awake, this is very confusing for the body. This distrupts normal hormonal secretions that occur as we wind down for sleep. Naturally our bodies wake with the sun and fall asleep after sundown.
So what do we do to address this? Blue light is everywhere but there are some clever hacks we can follow to avoid blue light, reset our circadian rhythm and improve our sleep and our health overall.
In summary ~ WE WANT ONLY NATURAL BLUE LIGHT EXPOSURE FROM THE SUN IN THE DAY, AND ONLY ORANGE AND RED LIGHT AT NIGHT. This replicates the natural cycle of nature and how we have lived for the majority of our human existence.
BLOCK ARTIFICIAL BLUE LIGHT
#1
Wear clear lense blue light blocking glasses during the day if you work under LED or fluorescent lights and are unable to use a blue light blocking feature on your computer such as Iris and f.lux. Clear or yellow blue blocking glasses are only suitable for day time wear. I like Baxter Blue and Quay.
#2
Wear orange or red tinted blue blocking glasses after the sun has set until you go to sleep. Orange to red blue blocking glasses block the entire spectrum of blue light whilst the clear lense glasses only block a very specific blue light wavelength, this is not enough for evening wear when we want protection from ALL blue light spectrums. I like these blue light blockers.
#3
Use the blue blocking setting or app on your phone and blue blocking software on your tablet and computer. Iris and f.lux are the best.
#4
As soon as you can in the evening turn off any LED or fluorescent lights. Invest in a red globe or do what I did and paint a light globe with red non-toxic acrylic kids paint. A Himalayan salt lamp also has a nice orange glow.
#5
Make sure your bedroom is as dark as possible while you sleep. If that is not possible invest in a high quality sleeping mask that does not press on the eyes and distrupt REM sleep. If you need a light during the night invest in a red light torch or red night light.
#6
Do not take any electronics into your room. Only use and charge electronics outside the bedroom and do not use a LED alarm clock.
#7
Expose your eyes and skin to the sun as soon as you can upon waking to signal the body that it is daylight. This is an important step in resetting the circadian rhythm. Exposure to the NATURAL blue light from the sun during the day tells the body it is day time and then only having orange and red light exposure at night tells the body it is night time and time to sleep. This step alone increases energy dramatically and balances hormones.
IMPORTANT SIDE NOTE: I also want to emphasise here that one of the major causes of ME/CFS is mitochondrial poisons and cellular constipation. It isn’t only mitochondrial poisons such as heavy metals, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, prescription drugs, mycotoxins from mould, EMFs and intracellular infections that poison the mitochondria and prevent energy from being produced and many other negative effects ~ Blue light is a major mitochondrial poison too as previously mentioned.
It is absolutely crucial to avoid blue light if you are healing ME/CFS, Lyme or want to optimise your health.
Are you avoiding blue light? How has it helped you?
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