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Warm lamp light

Night. Computer. The Internet.

Three hours and no sleep.

If you are familiar with the state when you stay up late at the computer, you do not feel tired and do not want to sleep, this post is for you. We will try to answer two classic questions: “who is to blame?” And “what to do?”.



We began to sleep less



More recently, an eight-hour night’s sleep was considered normal. Modern man has reduced this rate by a quarter and sleeps an average of six hours a day. A significant role in reducing the duration of sleep played a computer.



More and more people spend not only the evening, but also part of the night at the computer. Someone works at night, someone can not tear myself away from your favorite toys, someone hangs in a social network. But even after the work was done, the level in the game was passed, the news feed was read, and the time was already well past midnight, I still did not want to sleep. And this is not good at all.

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Lack of sleep can cause heart and nervous system diseases. A person sleeping for less than 7 hours loses up to 30% of the immune cells that protect the body. The consequences of lack of sleep may be vision problems, irritability, depression. Increases the likelihood of diabetes, cancer.



By the way, problems with weight are often the result of lack of sleep. The body perceives the lack of sleep as an emergency and begins to stock up on nutrients. Sleep less than 6 hours, the risk of obesity is higher on average by 23%. In children, lack of sleep causes growth retardation. Reduced intelligence ratio.



Who is guilty?



Biological rhythms in our body regulates melatonin. Its concentration increases in the evening and at night, causing drowsiness. Not being a sleeping pill, it facilitates falling asleep. The concentration of melatonin reaches a maximum between midnight and 5 o'clock in the morning, at which time about 70% of its daily amount is synthesized.



Melatonin has many beneficial properties. It strengthens the immune system, protects against cancer, reduces anxiety, stabilizes the endocrine system, participates in the protection of the body from adverse effects.

Melatonin also slows down the aging process. One of the theories of aging is associated with problems that arise in old age, with a decrease in the synthesis of melatonin in the body.



The increase and decrease in melatonin concentration is regulated by the amount of light. When it gets dark, the production of melatonin increases, and we want to sleep. Bright lighting inhibits the synthesis of melatonin, sleep as a hand removes.



Scientists from the University of Thomas Jefferson conducted a study in which 72 volunteers took part (37 women, 35 men, average age 24.5 ± 0.3 years). Researchers studied how light rays with different wavelengths - from 440 to 600 nm - affect the synthesis of melatonin.

Volunteers for 90 minutes were irradiated with light with a certain wavelength and in parallel measured the change in the level of melatonin in their blood.

It turned out that blue light with a wavelength of 446-477 nm suppresses melatonin synthesis more than light rays with other wavelengths.







Why the blue rays play the leading role in suppressing the synthesis of melatonin, it will become clear if we recall that blue and blue colors prevail during the daytime when a person is awake.







Evening turns, warm yellow-orange comes to replace the cold blue light, and melatonin synthesis is enhanced, preparing the body for a night's sleep.



The color temperature of the light, which has the maximum effect on the suppression of melatonin synthesis, can be determined by the formula:



Color Temperature = 0.0029 / Wavelength



It is about 6500 K. If you now look at the color temperature of your monitor (as a rule, it can be found in the color settings), most likely make sure that it is equal to 6500 K - this is the value that is set on the monitors by default.

Now it becomes clear why sitting at the screen of a computer or laptop does not want to sleep: the light emitted by them destroys the sleep hormone melatonin.



What to do?



I will not advise you to buy melatonin in a pharmacy, even though it is considered one of the safest hormonal drugs. I think it is necessary to allow the body to deal with the problems itself, and not to stuff it with medicines.



The most radical and, of course, effective solution would be to abandon the use of a computer, laptop and mobile devices in the evening. But if this option is not suitable, try to limit half measures. For example, you can reduce the color temperature of the monitor screen to 5000 K. This is the meaning of the color temperature that the noonday sun has. But in the evening the value of the color temperature of our luminary is reduced to 4000 K.



The free multiplatform program f.lux will help to adjust the color temperature of the monitor screen depending on the time of day.

How the screen looks in the evening and in the afternoon can be seen here . You quickly get used to the program, and after a few days you cannot imagine how you could manage without it. Especially the difference is noticeable when you turn off this program in the evening.

The first reaction is to immediately turn it back on - the piercingly white color of the screen just cuts your eyes.







About f.lux on Habrahabr has already been spoken more than once - first of all as a program that allows to save the eyes of those who work with a computer in the evening and at night. It turns out that it has another remarkable property - it reduces the negative influence of the cold light of the monitor on melatonin synthesis, thereby preserving our sleep and longevity.



The program is quite convenient, although at first it may seem a bit unusual. Try this. Install it and use it for a couple of days without changing any settings. Then in the evening (in the evening and at night, the effect of the program manifests itself best) for a while you turn off f.lux. And if you do not have an immediate desire to turn it back on - delete. This program does not suit you.

Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/220009/



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