In modern conditions a person spends a lot of time surrounded by a variety of sources of artificial lighting.
In addition, there are a number of factors preventing the timely falling asleep. Scientists have found a solution to resume the correct sleep mode.
According to a study published in the journal “Current Biology”, spending time outside under natural lighting no matter the time of year helps to “reset” the internal biological clock and sleep earlier.
Later falling asleep affects the human being: lead to morning drowsiness (which may be the cause of accidents), decreased productivity and school performance, substance abuse, worsening of mood, diabetes and excessive body weight, said Kenneth Wright (Kenneth Wright), an employee of the University of Colorado (University of Colorado), USA.
Studies have shown that daily exposure to electric lighting on the human body causes a shift in the work of the internal clock that leads to delayed sleep more than 2 hours, and breaks the cycle of fluctuations in the level of melatonin — the hormone that regulates circadian rhythm. After weeks in the conditions of natural lighting experiment participants started early to go to sleep, regardless of sleep duration.
A group of researchers led by Wright conducted 2 experiments to Refine the previous conclusions. During one of them the group of 5 active volunteers were sent on a week backpacking during the winter solstice — the shortest day of the year. The participants of the experiment were not equipped with flashlights and cell phones, so the rhythms of sleep and fluctuating hormones were not influenced by modern technologies. The control group spent a week in the conditions of electric lighting. The researchers came to the conclusion that the modern way of life is 13 times reduces the stay in the conditions of natural lighting. Conducting an extended period of time outside of the premises contributed to the fact that the subjects fell asleep for 2.5 h earlier than in everyday life. Increase the level of melatonin in go camping also occurred at 2.5 h earlier than the control group.
Participants in another experiment were sent on a weekend camping in the mountains, but they were allowed to use flashlights, and the control group spent the weekend under artificial lighting. It turned out that for the normalization of sleep rhythms and hormone fluctuations enough 2 days spent in the conditions of natural lighting.
Scientists say that for persons who require normalization of sleep, the importance of adherence, increase time in sunlight in the daytime and the decrease in such conditions artificial lighting at night. The researchers also insist on the necessity of such architectural design of buildings, in which room will get the most sunlight, which will help to increase productivity and improve health.
In further studies, the researchers plan to determine how much sunlight is needed to configure the internal clock, and to study the relationship between circadian rhythms, stay in conditions of natural lighting and other aspects that are important for health.
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