Importance of Light

Psychiatrist Dayal Mirchandani explains that light is an important regulator of your daily rhythm of sleep and wake behaviour. It is one factor that sets into motion, your biological patterns. Automatically, a disturbance in the light can be disturbing.

Light will suppress your melatonin level. Melatonin is produced in the brain. It is produced during the night and ceases as daylight approaches and in responsible for affecting your body clock throughout your lives.

Light plays an important role in your body clock patterns. The body clock is the result of the Circadian Rhythm, which is a daily fluctuation sleep-wake states generally tied to the 24 hour clock. The circadian rhythm also affects body temperature, blood pressure, digestive secretions and hormone production.

While some can adapt to the lights while sleeping, for some it can create problems.

Full Light

Dr. Jagdish Shah, a Psychotherapist, Acupuncturist and Anaesthesiologist says, "What happens with a bright light is that it makes your stimuli active because of which you cannot sleep peacefully."

Naturally, disturbed sleep is likely to affect your daily activities.

Computer and TV Lights

You might feel that these lights are less harmful. However, Dr. Shah explains that the computer and TV have fluorescent lights with a lesser wavelength. The lesser the wavelength, the more stimulation it provides to the brain. This in turn is more disturbing than say, a tube light.

Blinking Lights

What happens when somebody in your room keeps on switching on and off the light? Or do you have vehicles passing outside your house every now and then with lights entering your room? Dr. Shah explains that this is called the blinking effects and is even more harmful than static lights.