Despite the critical role that the light around us plays in our health, many of us continue to ignore the adverse effects that overexposure of artificial light has on us. Our guest today, Andy Mant is the founder of BLUblox as well as a light, wellness, and sleep educator and he is here to shed light on the topic. He begins by explaining the differences between natural and artificial light sources and the different ways they impact us.

We discover that the overarching problem with artificial light is that it is imbalanced and therefore stimulates inappropriate hormonal responses in our bodies, which has cascading negative effects. While knowledge about blue light’s adverse effects is relatively well-known, much less is written about green light. This is despite it having similar negative effects during night-time exposure and Andy also delves into this topic further. He finally also shares another very interesting aspect of artificial light exposure – the relationship between light exposure and the skin. He explores some of the negative effects that overexposure to artificial light sources has on our skin, which include mitochondrial changes and decreased sleep quality.

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Timestamps

• The distinction between natural and artificial light. [5:50]
• Natural blue light is balanced and allows for daytime alertness, but artificial blue light is imbalanced. [6:36]
• To produce melatonin, which is necessary for sleep, the body needs darkness. [7:45]
• Circadian rhythm disruption: how artificial light source-exposure negatively impacts us. [8:25]
• Greenlight: the positive daytime and negative night time effects of this type of light exposure. [9:46]
• Up to 550nm, green light has the same effect as blue light our circadian rhythms after sunset. [10:48]
• By exposing ourselves to green and blue light after dark, we face chronic cortisol release. [12:34]
• It is crucial to block all blue and most green light at night to function optimally. [13:36]
• There is no substitute for sunlight which contains visible and invisible light spectrums. [14:32]
• Regardless of cloud cover, you will get the benefits of sunlight by going outside. [17:37]
• The first light your eyes see when you wake up entrains your circadian clock. [19:00]
• Some measures to take to protect yourself from nighttime green and blue light exposure. [20:05]
• Skin has a separate circadian rhythm, so disrupting this can lead to its own problems. [22:47]
• The reason that Andy recommends women wear a scarf if they are in an office every day. [24:10]
• Criteria to find the best quality blue light blocker glasses – lens test reports. [25:39]
• There is various data linking the secretion of cortisol after dark to artificial light exposure. [28:09]
• Currently, the issue with many clear lenses is that they focus predominantly on violet light. [29:15]